Chereads / The Atlantian System / Chapter 52 - Chapter Twenty Six- Part Two: Catching The Train

Chapter 52 - Chapter Twenty Six- Part Two: Catching The Train

"Punch the Proxy." She breathed, the vibrations of Override in her throat almost painful, like a muscle that hadn't stretched before exercising.

Without hesitation, the brawler spun on his feet, landing a right hook punch to the Proxy's face with the force of a heat-seeking missile.

The punch hit the Proxy's temple, eyes immediately rolling back in his head as he was thrown backward by the massive force behind the attack.

Two thralls caught the falling body while the rest went into what seemed like 'attack mode', faces wrinkling with bared their teeth as the horde hissed in anger.

'Quarterstaff!' She mentally shouted to Inimus, squaring up as two thralls, a woman in her late thirties, and a young man reached out claw-like hands to restrain her. The thrall she had overridden moved to intercept her attackers, body-checking the woman who went flying as the young man tried to crawl up his back like a jaguar up a tree.

Leta lashed out with the quarterstaff and stunned it, turning just in time to dodge one of the thralls literally throwing themselves at her.

A low growl cut through the chaos of the massive brawl as a massive black-furred body came flying through, fangs latching onto the outstretched arm of a thrall that was coming up behind her.

"Bonnie!" Leta cried in relief as Allister seemed to rise up among the squirming mass of thralls like a rising phantom, nearly making her scream as he seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Get yer head back in tha fight, lass!" He shouted, brandishing two wooden Japanese hand staffs in each hand and laying into the hissing crowd around them.

"Yes, sir!" She responded as she lashed out with the quarterstaff, nailing a coming thrall like a hammer.

"Stun only. No kill shots." He commanded. Allister, Leta, Hayoto, and Koa stood back to back, protecting each other's backs and picking off attacking thralls as they came.

Knocking the thralls out was proving harder than expected as their numbers seemed to continue to increase. About ten people mobbed the thrall that Leta had overridden, pulling it to the ground as they clawed and kicked at it.

Bonnie was doing an amazing job darting among the missing mass, tripping bodies and biting sleeves as a distraction where she could, but had moved close to Allister as their opponents had closed in.

"Any day now, Afra!" The giant Hunter shouted.

A hot wind blew through the street, picking up dust and trash as it whipped through the street. Leta couldn't see where the Hearth Maiden was, but she could tell that she was using her power to heat the air and create a windstorm.

"Back! Back to the bridge!" Allister commanded, and they began to slowly creep their way backward, fending off snarling hands left and right. The windstorm was helping to slow down but it seemed like every thrall in the city was zeroing in on their location.

A vice-like grip on her ankle nearly sent Leta stumbling to the concrete when she realized that the Proxy was damaged but still alive, one eye dilated from a concussion that it wasn't feeling.

The Proxy was on its stomach, half buried under a knocked-out thrall as it grabbed her.

One green eye was slow to follow the other as the Proxy glared up at her. "My eyes are everywhere, Miss Black. You can't run-" He tried to monologue, but Leta lifted her quarterstaff and hit the head again. This time, the body went under, hands relaxing as it slipped into unconsciousness.

"Stupid villains." She grumbled and lashed out as another thrall came at them.

When they reached the stairs, Leta chanced a glance behind her to see Afra standing at the bridge entrance, one hand out as she sent hot air at their assailants, the other towards the bridge as she kept ambushing thralls from attacking their flank.

Allister's alarm on his smartwatch chimed as they took their first steps up.

"9 a.m. E train should be coming through right now." We've got to get off at Siliviras." He shouted.

"How are going to get to the station?" Leta called back. Another thrall down and two more took its place.

"We're not going to the station."

"What?"

"We're jumping here!" He thumbed behind them at the bridge.

"WHAT!?" Leta screamed in shock and nearly missed blocking an attack.

"He he. We're going for a ride." Hayoto chuckled.

"What about Bonnie?"

"She's goin' fer a ride, too!" Allister smirked behind his red beard.

They made it to the top of the stairs and Leta could hear the distant blare of a train whistle in the distance.

"Right on time." He grated out as he kicked away another snarling thrall as they reached the Hearth Maiden. "Sheath your weapons. Afra! Get us into position."

The force of Afra's power was like facing a jet engine, hot air blasting from her outstretched hands and sending bodies flying.

"Couple a tips, lass!" Allister shouted over the roar of Afra's power, "Stay low. Fights on moving trains are for movies, not real life. The wind tunnel a train makes will send ya sailin. Hug the train, then roll off when it's time. Protect your head an' tuck an' roll like ya would jumpin' from a car."

"What the f*** is my life right now…" Leta laughed hysterically, feeling like she was two minutes away from a mental breakdown as Inimus melted back into her glove gauntlets.

"Didn' ya want an adventure?"

"No!"

Allister barked a laugh as they got into position, the vibration of an oncoming train rattling from their toes and up their spines.

"Go! Go! Go!" Allister bellowed.

Bonnie nimbly bounced up the handrail to the ledge and jumped, tail wagging fearlessly.

Hayoto and Koa followed suit, scaling up the side of the barrier and diving out of sight.

"This is a bad time to talk about my fear of dying, right?"

Allister chuckled, massive hands grabbing her shoulders and lifting her off the ground. "Don' ferget ta' stay low an hold on!" He laughed manically as he threw her over the edge like she didn't weigh more than a sack of flour.

Leta let out a blood-curdling scream as she went airborne.

Her arms windmilled in the air as she dropped at least two stories down, the silver roof of the train coming up fast.

Leta hit the top and bounced, feeling the air leave her lungs in a rush as the force of the train pushed her into one of the train's air conditioning units.

[HOST HAS TAKEN FALL DAMAGE.]

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Leta moaned in pain as she felt her body healing the knicks and bruises from the fall.

Leta chanced a peak and raised her head, eyes squinting into the wind.

She could make out what looked like Koa and an even smaller Hayoto up ahead. Behind her she saw Allister's easily identifiable frame not far behind and watched as Afra used her power to launch herself into the air, the remaining thralls lunging forward to grab her like a horde of ravenous zombies.

There was a moment when Leta wasn't being chased or attacked by mindless thralls and she could take a moment to step back and think to herself 'Holy sh**, I'm on top of a moving train and I survived all of that'. Where she could look around from a different perspective at the buildings and cars going by and maybe accept that this is her life now.

Then she saw Hayoto and Bonnie once more jumping from the train what seemed like almost a moment later, tail still wagging.

"Oh, crap. This is our stop." Leta whined as Koa followed close behind.

Taking a deep breath and cursing the madness that was this morning, she jumped.