The Runaway Train

The train steamed its way across the arid landscape in the pre-dawn darkness. Nocturnal desert creatures made their way back to cool lairs to seek safety and shelter and escape the relentless heat of the coming day. They stopped to watch it barrel along the metal tracks noisily belching smoke and steam.

The full moon was still visible in the sky, becoming fainter and seeming almost translucent as the first pale light of dawn started to gradually erase the stars.

Passengers on board the train started to stir as their sleep was peacefully disturbed by the dark’s slow demise.

Henry finished freshening up in the small section of the baggage car allotted to him, preparing for the day ahead. He donned his conductor’s jacket and hat, folded up the camp stretcher he’d spent the night on and quickly washed up his coffee cup and porridge bowl. He’d proudly been a conductor on the railroad for ten years and loved his job. His children had grown and spread their wings all over the now greater United States of America. Galloping consumption had stolen his darling wife many years before. He liked to think of the passengers as his family now, to be protected and cared for as he would do for any of his loved ones. He had managed to stay alive through three railway robberies and hadn’t lost any passengers to any either. Managing to stay calm and collected was part of his job. It mightn’t have stopped the robberies but it certainly prevented loss of life.

“And here we go, another day working for the man. Come on Henry, you know you love it”, he chortled to himself as he opened the baggage car door and stepped across the gangway connection and entered through the door to the first passenger coach.

By now night had completely vanished and sunlight streamed through the windows. It was going to be a hot day today, all the worse in these first passenger coaches because opening the windows meant risking smoke permeating clothing and even live embers putting tiny holes in whatever one was wearing.

“Good morning everyone”, Henry said loudly as he closed the door behind him. “I just need to check everyone’s tickets again thanks very much.”

He made his way through the first coach then through the second, exchanging pleasantries with everyone as he made sure there was no stowaway from the last station since yesterday. He mused to himself that the train was surprisingly light on passengers this journey.

Through the dining car he walked in that wide-legged way peculiar to sailors and railway conductors, not having to hold on to anything, except of course the biscuits Elspeth handed him over the counter as he greeted her with a smile and a compliment.

“Looking as lovely as ever this fine morning my friend!”

She’d been working for the railroad even longer than Henry had and was as sure footed as him when the train swayed and bucked as it rocketed along.

Thankfully this train only had one sleeping car and that was only partly full this trip so there wouldn’t be many people he’d have to wake up first before checking their tickets. He was pleasantly surprised to see that all but one of the curtains were pulled back and the few passengers who’d been sleeping there were standing dressed in their day wear, the women in high necked blouses, floor length skirts, lace-up boots and bonnets of all shapes and sizes. The men were attired in their suits with waistcoats and short fronted jackets, their outfits finished off with stiff crowned hats. They all looked ready to make their way to the dining car for breakfast. After he checked their tickets one by one and bade each of them a good day as they left, he followed normal procedure and pulled back the one closed curtain to check. He almost kept walking without checking after opening the curtain, after all he’d checked every passenger’s tickets yesterday after the last station, hadn’t he? But he did give the dark recess a cursory glance. Then a double take. What he saw made his heart skip a beat as he recoiled in shock. He was having trouble getting his brain to begin accepting what his eyes saw before him.

A young man raised a weary head and looked at Henry with bleary bloodshot eyes. This man was scruffy, with an unkempt reddish beard and moustache and a mop of dark brown hair. Henry’s first thoughts were confused but he realised it must in fact be a stowaway, only the upper class paid for sleeping compartments. This young man had definitely seen better days, he looked like the type of person you’d find sleeping on straw in a box car. His clothes were in shreds and he had a strong feral smell about him, a long time since a bath Henry surmised. With a hand over his nose Henry demanded,

“Young man, who are you and where is your ticket? Do you have a sleeping compartment ticket?”

In a gravelly voice the stowaway replied, “What? Where am I? Who are you? What’s happening?”

He slipped out of the alcove and stood facing Henry, towering over him. Henry stepped back trying to avoid having to breathe in that rank odour of unwashed body with an undertone of something Henry thought he recognised but couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“What’s your name son? Where are you going and where did you board the locomotive?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t know, I can’t remember my name or where I am. Please help me. Why would I be on this train?” He shook his head again and again as if trying to put the scrambled pieces of his memory back together.

“Now calm down son, just stay calm. I’ll try and help you but I have to tell you that as a person with no ticket for this journey, let alone the sleeping car, I will have to seize you and keep you restrained until we get to the next station tomorrow morning. Please don’t make any trouble, come with me to the baggage car and I will set you up with something to eat and drink. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

The young man, tears running down his cheeks, nodded and pleaded,

“Please help me, I’m scared”, he sobbed. “I’ll do whatever you say, just please help me, I don’t know how I got here. I’m really sorry for anything wrong I’ve done.”

Henry was nothing if not a compassionate, caring man so he said in a comforting tone,

“Now don’t you go worrying about a thing sonny, I’ll get you fixed up and we can get the Sheriff at the next town to help you find out just who you are and where you’re from. Relax and come with me.”

The unfortunate, scruffy, smelly ruffian said through his tears,

“You are so kind, if I can’t remember anything else I’m sure I’ll remember you being so kind to me, I can’t thank you enough.”

Henry motioned for the stowaway to lead the way through the door to the dining room. Just to be on the safe side Henry took a handful of what was left of the back of the young man’s shirt while they walked through the dining car, much to the consternation of the people sipping daintily on their morning beverages.

“Nothing to worry about here folks, just a young man needing some human compassion, it’s all under control, he’ll be restrained in the baggage car. He doesn’t seem to have anything on him so your belongings are still safe and secure.”

Women put their handkerchiefs to their noses as the two men walked past them and then out through the door. They all started talking to each other in hushed tones in a nasty, some would say un-Christian way, the way people would discuss a stray rabid dog or feral cat.

The pair made their way through the next two passenger coaches with Henry still having a firm grip on the back of the shirt of the mysterious passenger. As the train sped along roughly, Henry had to help stop him from falling a couple of times.

At last they crossed the last gangway connection and were in the baggage car.

Henry explained kindly, “As I told you before young fella, I’m going to have to restrain you, it’ll only be with one handcuff securing you to the metal frame of the car. That way you’ll still be able to use one hand to eat and drink and everything. You understand that?”

The scruffy stowaway nodded and sobbed as Henry applied one handcuff to the right wrist of the ruffian and fastened the other, at the end of a metre long chain, to a metal rod on the interior of the wall of the car and sat him on the chair where Henry normally sat during his breaks.

“You wait there and try to remember anything you can about your name and how you got here, OK? I’m going to get you a jug of water and something for you to eat, I won’t be long. Stop your crying now and calm down, nothing can hurt you here, you’ll be looked after. I’ll just put this blanket over your shoulders, it can get cold in here.”

After taking back the water and some breakfast to the baggage car, Henry got on with his day walking continually back and forth through the passenger cars and out to the parlour car at the very back of the train. He liked to keep an eye on everything on his train throughout the day.

The locomotive steadily clattered and clanked on through the day over the surrounding barren territory. Passengers amused themselves playing cards, reading or talking. All was good in Henry’s world, except for the enigma restrained in his baggage car. Every time Henry got to that end of the train he would check up on his ‘stray’ and make sure he was comfortable.

No matter when he popped in, the poor stowaway still couldn’t remember who he was, how he got on the train without a ticket or where he was from. A couple of times he was asleep in the chair, another couple of visits he was sobbing quietly. It was heart rending for Henry to have to see a young man in that state. He decided that, when the train stops at the water stop at the end of the day, he’d get off and send a telegraph message through the equipment there to the sheriff at the next town to give him time to try and track down who this person could possibly be before handing him over at the station.

Before he knew it, the day was ending and it was dusk. Henry made his way to the passenger car so he could get off when the train stopped at the water stop. He was chatting to one of the passengers about the particular town that was his destination when it became clear they were almost on top of the water stop. The locomotive rocketed past and Henry realised the engine hadn’t even slowed down at all and, now that he came to think of it, the speed had been the same the whole day. He thought to himself,

“Maybe Joe thinks we’re running late and doesn’t want to waste time stopping? But we always have to stop at that water stop ……… “.

He went back to the door at the front end of the passenger car, held on tight and leant out as far as he could to try and see the cabin and get the engineer’s attention. He took a lungful of air and yelled out to Joe at the top of his voice.

No response. He’d try calling the fireman’s name instead, maybe Joe was having a kip. He yelled out Smokey's name as loudly as he could, feeling like his voice was being snatched away by the wind.

No response.

Now the sun had gone down completely. He could just make out the yellow glow in the cabin from the fire box powering the engine. Henry wondered how long they’d be able to make steam now that they hadn’t stopped to refill the water tank. He knew there was a steep hill coming up and wondered if there’d be enough steam to get them up to the top. Going down the other side obviously wouldn’t be a problem, and the next station wasn’t far from there. He’d check with Joe and Smokey then to see what was happening and make sure they were both alright.

He walked through all the carriages announcing the next station.

“Liberty Plains is the next station folks! Please get your belongings together, make sure you haven’t left anything in the dining, sleeping or parlour cars and make your way to the door. Wait on the platform after disembarking to collect your luggage from the baggage car, God speed and enjoy the rest of your evening”.

Back in the baggage car he explained to the miserable young man on the end of the handcuff that the sheriff wouldn’t be meeting them at the station and he’d be left in the custody of the Station Master until the morning. Henry told him he hoped there’d be no trouble and that he’d behave like he had while he was being held here in the baggage car.

Henry checked the manifest and sorted the departing passengers’ baggage, piling it near the door ready to place on the platform of the next station which was only a few minutes away. He slid back the door which would face the platform and noticed that the train was still going the same speed as it had when it started its descent after the hill, and wasn’t slowing down as it usually would at this distance from the station. Henry’s brain started to panic even though he remained outwardly calm. He slammed the door shut and took a moment to think.

“Don’t you start worrying sonny, I’m going out to see what’s happening. You’re safe, nothing can hurt you here.” He lit his kerosene lamp to give the stowaway a bit of light and left him sitting there with a blanket over his shoulders and a sad, worried look on his face.

Henry knew he had to get to the engine cabin to see what was going on. He’d tried and couldn’t get Joe’s attention. He took another kerosene lamp to the passenger car and once again leant out holding onto the rail, this time waving the lamp in a vain attempt to get someone in the locomotive to notice. Then he saw the station quickly approaching, the train speeding straight past the platform where the passengers waiting to embark stood in shock and anger as they realised this train just wasn’t going to stop.

“It's alright, this is just what your job is Henry Reid”, he thought to himself, staying calm. “It’s looking after the passengers, keeping them calm and happy.”

The disembarking passengers who crowded around the door were agitated, barking questions at him, demanding to know why the train didn’t stop, wanting to know what was going to happen, how were they going to get to their destination if the train kept going? He placated them somewhat and had them back in their seats in no time, making excuses and assuring them they’d be taken care of.

Henry knew he’d have to somehow get to the engineer, and on a moving train the only way to do that was to climb onto the baggage car then down onto the bogies to cross to the coal car then across the top of that and to then cross the gangway connection to the engine.

He explained to the passengers what he was going to have to do and tried to reassure them that they would be safe and he would be back as soon as he could. Would he though? He’d never been on a runaway train before, and had no idea what to do to help the engineer and fireman if they needed him. He gave himself a bit of a chat.

“Nothing to lose Henry, let’s not waste time, if you can face a Confederate cannon mowing down your friends in front of you, you can face anything, let’s go!”

He removed his conductor’s cap and jacket, tidied his shirt by tucking it neatly into his trousers, flicked his braces and shook himself.

There was no way he could get onto the roof of the baggage car from the car’s big sliding door, so from the passenger car he swung out of the door, grabbed hold of the ladder and climbed to the roof. He’d never had to do this before but had heard tales around campfires in railway sidings of other men having to do it. He knew it could be done, he just didn’t know if he could.

Henry slowly straightened up so he was standing on the roof at the edge of the covered gangway connection joining the two cars. Sure, it mightn’t have been a Confederate’s cannon but that wide gap between the front of the passenger car and the baggage car was just as terrifying!

The train was speeding around a long curve which actually helped for two reasons. The smoke from the stack wasn’t blowing directly in his face and the corners of the two cars on the inside of the curve were closer to each other. Henry knew if he was was going to jump he had to do it quickly before the track straightened.

He inched to the side of the roof closest to the inside of the curve, made sure he had his balance, nearly slipping because the roof sloped slightly but able to stop himself before plummeting to a certain death. He took two slow, careful steps backwards then ran and pushed off. He felt like he was flying, only empty space under him, then he landed on his feet on the roof of the baggage car, flailing around with his arms to keep his balance then quick smart dropped to his knees.

“Not bad for an old man Henry!”, he laughed to himself.

He crawled the length of the roof and looked down at the bogies joining the coal car to the baggage car. Both cars thankfully had ladders on the ends but first Henry had to cross those bogies that joined them. Looked like he’d have to do another jump. He figured it was too risky to try clambering over those big metal bogies that'd be jumping and swivelling around as the train sped on its way.

He climbed down the ladder onto the narrow ledge the bogie protruded from, and in his mind’s eye judged the distance he would have to jump to get to the ledge on the rear of the coal car. He figured if he jumped to land near the ladder at least he’d have something to grab hold of if he lost his balance. The thought of losing his footing and falling to his death under the train’s wheels horrified him and helped strengthen his resolve to make a successful jump.

He wasn’t going to be able to back up and take a run at it like on the roof, he needed to have the strength from a standing start to spring across the gap.

He tried to inspire himself, “Nothing a young fella like you can’t do Henry, come on soldier, you can do this!”

He squatted and straightened a couple of times to free up his arthritic knees then lined himself up so he’d hopefully land just to the left of the ladder going up the right side of the back of the coal car.

A low squat, a lean of the upper body slightly forward, an explosive energy shot through his legs and he was there, he’d done it. He whooped as he started to straighten up and grabbed the ladder with his right hand to stop himself falling backwards.

“Well, this will definitely be something I can tell those grandkiddies of mine, if I don’t have a heart attack first. Goddammit Henry, well done old boy!”

Thinking of his grandchildren made him think of the young man handcuffed to the baggage car. Henry hoped he was happy to wait for a little while longer before he could have something to eat. As soon as he worked out what was going on he'd get back there and look after everyone.

With that thought he climbed the ladder and clambered onto the coal heap and went to make his way around to the front to get to the engine. He started to slip down the side of the coal heap and instinctively tried to grab hold of the coal with his hands. Of course he couldn’t get purchase by holding the coal with his hands, but all of a sudden he clutched onto something solid. The moon was full again, seemed even fuller than the night before if that was at all possible, and illuminated everything with its ghastly glow.

The solid thing that he’d felt became visible. It was a boot.

“What the heck would that be doing here?”

Henry swept more coal away with his other hand to discover the boot was attached to a leg. Confused, he wondered who'd be buried under the coal, and how.

Henry straightened up as much as he could to see more of the coal heap. He pulled on the boot and with a shock it came away easily, the lower leg in the boot coming with it.

He yelled in shock and dropped the boot clad leg and watched as it bounced off the edge of the car and dropped into the dry dirt next to the track, left behind by the speeding train, alone without its pair. He let out a sob and looked back up at the coal heap and retched and heaved as he saw that it had been Smokey’s boot and leg, more of his poor friend was spread over the top of the heap.

Henry’s head was spinning, he consciously tried not to pass out or lose balance. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen dismembered bodies on battlefields during the war, both North’s and the Confederates’ soldiers, but he’d never seen anything like this. If it hadn’t been for him recognising Smokey’s leg and boot, and for Smokey’s face being illuminated by the full moon while it stared at the stars from the top of the heap, the mouth in a silent scream of agony and terror, Henry wouldn’t have been able to recognise the blood and gore as anything human.

Shaking in shock, Henry pulled himself together, managed to spin around and grab onto the edge of the front of the car and lift himself up and over to drop onto the gangway connection to the engine.

Still trembling with shock and muttering a prayer under his breath, he inched his way into the cabin only to be struck dumb again, this time by the sight of the engineer Joe. Yes, sure he was at his position at the controls but there was no way he was controlling anything.

Joe was slumped in such a way that the throttle was jammed on with the weight of the engineer’s bloody body. Poor Joe’s throat had been ripped open and the brake levers were all jammed with the mess from his wound.

Henry tried to wrestle Joe’s huge body away from the controls but he had no hope. They were a grisly mess and try as he might he couldn’t budge any of the brake levers.

The fire box was still glowing but Henry knew that it couldn’t last forever and the train would eventually have to come to a stop.

Who or what could have done this to his friends, those good, decent men he’d worked with for many years? Had a bear or a wolverine managed to climb aboard the train? Impossible, the train hadn't even slowed down since the last station. He couldn’t think of any other animal that could cause that damage to a human body. The trauma of the war came rushing back into his mind but Henry knew he couldn’t let that happen because his passengers were in danger and had to be protected, he had to get back to them. He was a God-fearing man so he said a silent prayer over Joe’s body and climbed back into the coal car, said another silent prayer for Smokey then climbed down the ladder to take that jump again back over to the baggage car. After what Henry had seen and the shock he’d experienced, he wasn’t altogether sure he could do it all again to get back but knew he had no choice other than to try.

It’s a miracle what Henry’s adrenaline did for him that night. It drove him on and made it possible for him to make the jump from one ledge to the other over the bogies, climb the ladder back up onto the roof of the baggage car then jump back over to the roof of the passenger car, all the while feeling as if he was in the worst nightmare he’d ever had. It somehow seemed quicker coming back, probably because his thoughts were distracted with those terrifying images he’d now never be able to unsee.

He clambered down the ladder and yelled out to the passengers.

“Hello there! Hello! I’m going to try and swing back in from this ladder, can someone come and get ready to grab me if I need it?”

Nothing, no response.

“Hello! Ahoy! Anyone?”

Still no-one coming to help. He was puzzled, they’d all seemed like a nice lot of passengers this journey.

Henry had to turn around at the bottom of the ladder so he was facing outwards. He felt vulnerable with the wind whipping his hair over his eyes, the car bucking and rolling as if it was trying to throw him off.

A deep breath and then he did it, the relief was plain on his face as he successfully swung around and grabbed hold of the door handle, his left foot making solid contact with the landing. There was still no-one coming to see if he needed help.

He entered the carriage and stood in shock, unable to process the sight that met him. There was death everywhere in the bright moonlight streaming through the windows. Whatever had killed Joe and Smokey had somehow, unseen by him, managed to slay everyone on the train.

“Lordy be, that poor boy!”, Henry murmured as he remembered that the lost boy with no memory was restrained and wouldn’t have been able to escape whatever demonic animal was running amok on the train. He ran through the carriage, flung open the door and crossed the gangway connection into the baggage car.

He yelled into the dark car, "I’m going to release you boy! We have to somehow get off this train. We can’t wait until it stops, we’ll have to jump! Some wild animal’s killed the engineer and fireman and it looks like every passenger! I’m coming lad.”

There was nothing, no reply, no sound of life at all. Henry made his way to the end of the carriage and felt around for his kerosene lamp, fearing it would show that the unfortunate, scared lad had also been killed. He relit the lamp and saw to his shock that the handcuff was still attached to the wall, half the chain hanging and swaying, clattering against the metal wall.

“Oh, praise be, he must’ve been able to escape. Please Lord above, if you’ve never done anything for me until now, please just let him be alright.”

He crouched down with the lamp to see if there was a sign of any blood on the floor - none. He hoped maybe one of the passengers had somehow cut through the chain and released him.

What was that sound?

Henry heard the click clack of claws and something metallic dragging on the wooden floor of the carriage and a low snarling growl. A familiar feral, wet dog stench assailed his senses. The hairs stood up on the back of Henry’s neck and a chill worked its way through his whole body. He slowly straightened up and turned to face whatever was making that terrifying, guttural noise, a noise he imagined was created in the bowels of hell.

Then he was running backwards, being charged by a monstrous aberration. An animal of some kind was going to kill him, something that looked like God couldn’t decide whether to make it a man or a wolf. It pushed Henry back with its massive front paws, its slavering fangs inches away from his throat, evil incarnate about to take Henry’s life like it had everyone else it had ever come in contact with.

Henry shrieked and yelled, “God help me!”. He pleaded in a soft voice, “No, no, no!”.

The creature that must have been Satan’s servant drew back and cocked its head as it looked deeply into Henry’s eyes and Henry saw the monster’s demonic eye actually soften and seem to change to almost human as a tear ran down its cheek. It drew back its head and took two paces backwards. Henry watched, trembling in terror, as the creature seemed to shrink back from him then turned to lope out of the carriage before leaping from the speeding runaway train.

Henry was frozen in shock and then devastated as he recalled the words that the stowaway had spoken to him. “….. if I can’t remember anything else I’m sure I’ll remember you being so kind to me …..”.

In horror he realised that the metallic dragging sound coming from the werewolf had been from the chain hanging off the other handcuff attached to its front right leg.