Infinity Train Book 5: The Odd Boy

The Puzzle Car

Orion huffed as he caught his breathe. He grabbed the cotton candy that was stuck to his shirt and threw it off, "That's the last time that I work in a carnival!" Flux followed him, covered in cotton candy, "How do you think I feel? My fur is sticky and gooey. It'll take hours to fix it." Orion grabbed a water bottle from his backpack and poured it onto Flux. The cotton candy started washing off, but Flux also ended up getting wet. He frowned, "Gee, thanks." Orion pointed to the next car door, "Come on. We need to go to the next car." He walked on the platform and opened the next door.

 As the door opened, the two of them looked in awe. The entire room had a background of a puzzle. It seemed that a few pieces were missing from the car. Orion looked around, "What do we have to do here?" "Good question!" The two of them yelled out as one of the people in the puzzle started speaking. The puzzle man said, "Hey there. It's nice to meet you. It's been so long since we've had visitors." Orion rubbed the back of his neck, "Um, hello. Can you tell us where the exit is?" The puzzle man chuckled, "It's simple. You just have to find the missing pieces to fill in the puzzle." Flux narrowed his eyes, "Why do we need to fill in the missing pieces? We just need the door." The puzzle man said, "Each of the pieces that are missing have a piece of the door's puzzle. If you fill in the pieces for the puzzle, I can give you the door pieces. What do you say?" Orion said, "Yes. Tell us where we can start." 

"Uh, this is taking forever." Orion groaned as he and Flux continued to shift through the pile of pieces that the puzzle man had pointed them too. Flux said, "Well, you have to deal with it. It's the only way we'll be able to get out of here." Flux moved the pieces and suddenly let out a cheer, "Eureka! I found the piece we were looking for." The fox grabbed the piece and ran to where the puzzle man was waiting. Flux placed the piece back in the puzzle. The piece merged with the other pieces. The puzzle man cheered and entered the area that had been restored by the piece. He rummaged through the grass and picked out a piece of the door. Orion smiled, "Oh, you found the piece. Can you give it to me?" The puzzle man shook his head, "Oh, no. I can't do that. It's still part of the puzzle. Without all the pieces, it can't be whole. I'll put this where it belongs and once you find all the other pieces, you can go through the door." Orion frowned, "Oh, okay." The puzzle man smiled, "Good. Now, the next area that needs to be fixed is over here."

Flux looked as Orion rummaged through the pile of puzzle pieces. The fox asked, "Cupcake, are you sure we can trust that puzzle man? Before, he told us he would give us the puzzle pieces, but now he says he has to put the pieces in. It seems a bit...suspicious." Orion said, "Doesn't matter. I just want to get out of here as soon as possible. If he does turn out to be evil, then we'll deal with it when it comes to that." Flux frowned, "You're really just going to do what he says without caring about whether he's good or evil?" Orion nodded as he cheered as he found another puzzle piece. Flux frowned as he watched the boy put the piece in place.

After a few hours, they managed to collect all the pieces of the puzzle. The puzzle man cheered, "Thank you. Now my world is all fixed up. All that's left is the door!" Orion cheered. The puzzle man took out the pieces that he had collected and placed them in the last area that was empty. The pieces merged together to form the door. The puzzle man laughed, "Finally, I can leave this world." Orion was shocked, "What? What do you mean, you can leave?! I thought you were helping us." The puzzle man chuckled evilly, "Foolish little brat. I was lying to you. The door is real, but you have to be a puzzle to go through it. I've been stuck here for five years waiting to get out, and with your help, I'm finally free." Flux growled, "You miserable jerk. How dare you?" The puzzle man said, "Oh, I'm sorry. But don't worry. You just have to enter the puzzle world through by breaking through the empty spaces. Then you'll just have to wait for someone else to come fix the puzzle!" The laughed again and went towards the door. 

However, Orion punched the area between him and the door. The puzzle man gasped, "What? What are you doing?" Orion said, "Doing what you told me. Going into the puzzle world." Orion grabbed Flux and they went through the opening. 

There was a flash of light and suddenly, they were in the puzzle. Flux looked around and gasped, "The door." The two of them ran towards it. The puzzle man called out, "Wait, you can't leave me here. I've been stuck for five years." Orion turned back, "You deserve to be stuck here. You were using us to help yourself. No one wants to just be a tool for...someone else's sake." Orion looked down, recalling a memory from his past. Flux placed a paw on his leg, "You okay cupcake?" Orion looked at him, "Yeah. Yeah, let's go." The two of them ran to the door and turned the handle.

Once they exited the door, they stopped to catch their breathe. Flux huffed, "Well, that's the last time I trust a man in a puzzle." He turned to see Orion sitting down on the floor. He asked, "What's wrong?" Orion said, "Uh, nothing. I just...remembered something that I did that I'd rather forget." Flux asked, "Do you wanna talk about it?" Orion looked away, "No, not right now. Let's just go." Orion started walking. Flux followed and frowned as he watched as Orion's number rose from 97 to 112.