Chapter 3: Tick Tick Boom
The train exploded through the tunnel as the gold light vanished. He could hear the guards mutter, but he didn't think they were aware that he'd just taken them on a trip of a lifetime. Sunlight rolled into the train. A mountainside appeared before the windows as the train left the tunnel behind. Seventy Five didn't have much time. He had to get out of here before the guards noticed. He grabbed at the universe, sending shots of pain through the skull.
"Fuck, I can't focus," Seventy Five gasped, shutting his eyes tight against the train lights.
"Hey George," one of the guards said outside of the door. Seventy Five froze.
"This…doesn't look right."
"Shit," Seventy Five growled, shutting his eyes in an attempt to focus but it wouldn't come. He'd never escape at this point and he wasn't even sure wher-
Boom
The train jolted, causing Seventy Five to stumble and nearly fall to the floor. The guards let out a shocked gasp.
Boom
Seventy Five smashed into the window with an annoyed growl. He glared outside, looking around the best he could to see what caused the explosions.
"What is that?" he whispered to himself, glancing back to the locked door. Hoping the voice might have an idea but all was quiet. The guards started to shout, another smaller explosion. The experiment looked back towards the window and gasped when he saw a teenager.
He was wearing a deep gray wolf mask over their face and a red jacket that stopped halfway down his frame like a crop top. The teen stood out against the vivid blue of the mountains behind him, riding on what looked like a snowboard with a propeller on the end that connected to an engine. He was floating in the air, following in time with the train, tossing a ball up and down in their hand. Pressing a button on the silver trinket and steam blew out from the top. He tossed it lazily, landing it on the top of the train where it exploded.
Seventy Five turned and stumbled to the door as the man in the wolf mask vanished behind the train. He heard the guards shout something and then a loud pop. Were they being ambushed? The kid he saw looked young. Maybe Seventy Five could convince them he's a prisoner and book it when they free him.
***
The teen rolled a few small, metal balls between his fingers, watching the tunnel from where they hid on the hilltop and rubbing the scratch on his dark cheek; waited impatiently. Both his feet shoved into the steps of the board with the propeller on the end, itching for a train to come through, any train. It didn't matter to him. A group waited not far from him. A blonde person pushed their head down to look into the tunnel, their crisp blue eyes narrowed as if they thought they could see through the blackness.
"Anytime now," the darker skinned teen whispered to them. A wolf mask sat on the tight locs on his head. The blonde reached forward and playfully tugged the rat tail that came off the back of the man's head causing him to grunt in pain.
"Flint, you said it'd be here soon," the blonde snorted. Flint reached up to adjust the red fox mask on their head for them.
"Well a train is scheduled, Cari," one of the other teens piped up. More muscular than the others, but his light brown skin made him seem softer. The large teen pulled a newspaper from his back pocket, unfolding it and pushing the mouse mask up onto his short spiky hair.
"Ah, joder," he cursed, attempting to flatten the paper on the rocky surface under him.
"You can't be serious," the woman beside him grumbled. She grabbed the paper and placed it on the grass behind them, letting her hand roll over the paper. The group collected together, looking at the train times.
"Junior, please tell me that's a coffee stain," Flint said.
"No, I wiped my ass on it before leaving home," Junior replied.
"Least you wiped," Cari said, causing Junior to snatch up the paper and hold it against his chest. "Only people who don't insult me get to look at my stuff, like Jade," he nodded towards the woman with the large afro-like hair. She leaned back into the grass, pushing her hands into the pockets of her letterman jacket.
"Oh no no, Junie." she chuckled. "I will always insult you, just in a nicer way."
"Yeah right. You've never insulted me," Junior snorted.
"Wait, did you think 'smells like corn chips' was a compliment?" Flint laughed out causing Junior to pout at him. Before Junior could say something, a brilliant golden light detonated from the tunnel below them. A train roared from within, covered in heavenly light.
"What the fuck," Flint gasped, having leapt back from the sudden shake of the explosion. The group looked at each other before scrambling to get on their boards. Junior cursed in Spanish under his breath. "Come on, Juns," Cari shouted as they all leapt from their hiding spot and into the air. The engines let out a roar as they revved forward to follow after the train. The group laughed and howled as they all surrounded the car. Pulling their animal masks over their faces, Flint pointed towards Cari and Junior. He nodded at the train and glanced towards Jade who caught Flint's eye. Flint winked and Jade nodded, pulling away and shooting up towards the front. Junior and Cari slowed and clung to the end of the train.
Flint pulled one of the small metal balls from his pocket. He pushed down on a small button. Steam whistling out of the top, tossed it upwards. It landed on the metal train. Flint noticed how strange this train was. The light itself was odd, but this metal beast was completely silent. No steam came out of it. No smoke. How was it even running? Sure, his television ran with little to no steam but this was also not a tiny device. The bomb exploded, snapping him back into reality. Junior pushed his board up to the top, landing on the metal and looking inside.
"Uh, Flint?" Junior shouted. Flint pulled up so he could hear the other.
"What's up, J?" Flint asked while pulling out another tiny bomb.
"There isn't anyone here, loco."
"Gotta be someone. It can't run by itself," Flint called back but it was odd. Most trains were filled with rich white people going up to their 'clean' homes above the clouds.
Cari moved to be beside Flint. They locked eyes with him.
"Check it too," Flint said simply. Cari nodded, howled, and jumped their board upwards to the top of the train. He tossed another bomb, watching Cari vanish into the opening. The second bomb went off near the middle, where he planned on jumping in after he released the final bomb. He moved the board, putting his foot back to press down on the peddle and jet forward. Flint glanced inwards towards the window and froze. A teenager was looking around confused and from what he could see the other had his hands taped together. Flint felt a sudden tug of anger, turning attention back to the front of the train. Flint could feel the other's eyes on him but he couldn't break his focus. He tossed the ball up and down in his hands as he rapidly came up with a plan.
There was no way this train was empty if there was a kid tied up, but he wondered what could possibly be inside. If they are transporting a possible kidnapped victim this could be more dangerous than normal. He put his foot back and tossed another bomb. He was going to come in near the kid. He was going to make sure the other was safe.
The wind whipped his locs back so quickly as he struggled to keep up. The train was a lot faster than any train he'd come across. Following it as it continued to run around the mountain, Flint soared up towards the top of the peak where the richer people lived. Flint knew he'd be arrested if he set a foot up there and had to move quickly. Placing his foot down farther, the board shot forward. He could tell Junior and Cari found someone. The pops of their guns told him that that someone was dangerous. He finally got to the front of the train, the driver's windows so dark he couldn't see inside. He waved at the driver, held up the bomb, and tossed it upwards. Flint flipped the other off before letting his foot up, sending himself backwards. Coming back towards where he saw the teen, he landed his board just on top of the metal.
He watched Jade duck into the front of the train to put some fear into the driver and crew. Flint looked down at the hole he had made, dropping inside to the bright red carpet. The inside was jarring to him. Everything was sleek, white with dull gray chairs and a couple of tables pushed up against the window that stretched all away around the vehicle.
"What the fuck," Flint whispered.
"Hey, Fil," Junior called from the other room that was separated by a wall with a door-like hole in the middle. Flint made his way towards his friends. Cari was sitting on one of the two men in front of a door with a padlock on it.
"Look at these weird guns," Junior said, holding up the small handgun. "No powder."
"The whole train is weird," Flint said. One of the men was knocked out. The rubber bullet that Junior used on him had smashed hard into the man's head.
"He dead?" Flint asked, kicking him. The other Guard looked pissed with his hands being cuffed behind him.
"Fucking kids. You have no idea what you're doing," he snarled. Flint walked up to him, leaned down, and smiled.
"I think we do know, money bags," he said, patting the man on the head before turning to the door.
"Do not let him out," the man gasped out, struggling to get himself out from under Cari.
"Who?" Cari asked, looking up at Flint puzzled.
"I saw a kid when I was on-"
Something slammed itself against the door, shaking it. The three teens glanced at each other in confusion. "That's not a normal kid," the man said, blood rolling from his nose. "He's very dangerous. He's-"
"Let me out!" Seventy Five shouted, his voice angry. It caused the door to shake. Flint looked shocked. He glanced at the guard and towards his friends. He grabbed the handle and Junior reached forward, putting a hand on Flint's shoulder.
"Fil, don't. We don't know what he is."
"Stop it, June. I saw a terrified looking kid in there. There's no way in hell these people are the good guys. They're dressed like rich assholes."
Junior nodded at this, letting his hand fall from Flint's shoulder. It wouldn't have mattered anyways. Flint was too curious. The golden light, the strange train, it had to mean something and Flint wasn't about to let fear stop him from learning more. Flint grabbed the padlock and examined it for a few minutes. It looked like a normal padlock but a little more slick.
"I can get it," Cari said as if they'd read his mind. Flint stepped aside as Cari and Junior traded places. The blonde grabbed the lock. Pulling a bobby pin from their head, they shoved it into the lock and started to fiddle with it.
"Guys, we got some problems," Jade shouted. She had her hands up with a gun to her head. A man with thinning hair and an annoyed look glared at the group.
"Hands up, kids. Come on," the man said. The group all looked at each other and slowly put their hands up.
"And get off George.The man just had back surgery." Junior rolled his hazel eyes and got to his feet as slow as he could.
"The train drives by itself," Jade gasped out, looking horrified.
"Yeah, and I told her most trains can and she asked me if it was haunted. Where are we?" the man growled, causing all the teens to look at him puzzled. The Driver rolled his eyes, dropping Jade and putting the gun against her temple.
"I only know one person we can ask," the driver growled. "I was only five days from my vacation." making his way to the door, "If I pull my gun off her will you shit heads keep your distance?"
Flint looked at his friends. They nodded and he took a few steps back. The man put his gun down, letting Jade go. She raced over to Cari and grabbed at the other's hand.
"I don't like putting guns to kids' heads," he snorted, holding out a hand to George who didn't need instructions. George sat up and fished a key from his pocket, shakily dropping it into the driver's hand.
"Name's Jerry," he said to the kids as he moved the key into the lock. "And who are all of you?"
"Jerry?" Flint said, confused at what was happening. How did this kid have anything to do with this? What was going on? "Erm, I'm Flint. Leader of my pack,`` he said nodding to his friends.
"Pack?" Jerry chuckled, "Explains the animal masks," tossing Jade's owl mask towards her and continuing with the padlock. "That mask, right there? yeah, hurts," he scolded, rubbing his where she had used the sharp beak to 'peck' him.
The padlock let out a click and dropped. Standing up, Jerry opened the door. Seventy Five was curled up on the floor with his hands over his face. He was shivering as if in pain. Blood pooled around his head causing Flint's heart to drop. He pushed past Jerry and went down to the teen. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. Seventy Five opened one of his eyes, tears were racing down his cheeks.
"Migraine," he grumbled out, shakily forcing himself to sit up, but Flint put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to get up," he whispered and turned to his friends.
"Kill the lights," he ordered. Jerry got to his feet, "Now hold o-"
"Lights," he hissed out. "Where are you bleeding?" he murmured to Seventy Five, trying to keep his voice low. The lights flickered out after a few heartbeats. Flint glanced over at Junior who gave him a thumbs up.
"Perfect. Thanks, Junie." He turned attention back to Seventy Five who was pulling himself up, squinting his eyes against the sun but the dark windows helped keep it from being too bright. Seventy Five rubbed his bloodied nose on his sleeve, groaning inwardly.
"They were going to dissect me," he said, spitting blood from his mouth causing Flint to snap his head towards Jerry who put his hands up.
"Seventy Five, where are we?" Jerry asked, causing Seventy Five to laugh and lick the blood off his lips.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he snarled. "I don't recall you assholes telling me where I was going."
"What is happening here?" Flint asked, looking between Jerry and Seventy Five.
"Seventy Five, come on," Jerry groaned. "I just wanted to go home, drink three cases of beer, and get high. Where are we?"
Everyone's eyes went back to Seventy Five who spit more blood as it collected from his nose into his mouth. Flint reached into his pocket and pulled a cloth that was stained with oil, handing it to the other who used it to pinch his nose.
"We're in dimension 5490J," he said through the cloth. "In the year 3021."
Jerry looked at him in shock, "5490J? Of course. How could I be so stupid."
"Yeah, how could you be so stupid?" he scoffed, shakily attempting to stand up with Flint's help.
***
Father sat in the taxi, pulling his ring from its hidden spot under his shirt. He'd been wearing it less and less. It had started to make the skin around it burn and turn black. He couldn't figure out what was happening but was thankful most people didn't seem to notice.
But he was fixing for a shot of its powers, to feel it move against his skin like hot sands. He pulled it off the necklace, placing it on his finger only, nothing happened. He frowned, pulling it off his hand and placing it on another finger. Nothing. As the taxi drove him back to the Sanctus, he tried the ring on every finger but felt nothing, only a cold dread that turned his blood to ice. Then it dawned on him.
Experiment Seventy Five.
Rage replaced the dread within a few ticks of the clock. He'd murder the boy himself! He should have taken care of him years ago but foolishly held on. When Seventy Five lost control of his wormhole all those years back he should have put him down, but Father had a soft spot for the boy that made him feel sick.
Somehow this foolish child had taken the ring. "Stop," he demanded to the driver who put his foot to the brake.
"I need to go back," he ordered. The man driving the taxi looked at Father with confusion before nodding and turning his blinker on.
Father sat back in the chair, but he was so angry. How could he have been so foolish? Letting Seventy Five even touch him. It had been a rare privilege that would never happen for anyone again. He pulled his phone out, placing it to his ear until something clicked on the other end.
"This is Howard," he said, looking outside into the streets. He'd make Seventy Five regret this. "Tell Experiment Thirteen to meet me at the train station." He didn't wait for a reply, only hanging up the phone and shoving it back into his pocket. If Seventy Five had the ring there was a good possibility he had already jumped somewhere else and the only other one who could keep up with Seventy Five was his pride and joy, Experiment Thirteen.