ROTWOTA: Book 2 - The Falling City of Anthros

The Engines of the Empire

Arthur must've been running for nearly half an hour and was utterly exhausted. He eventually stopped in the middle of the forest and panted heavily. He was very thankful that the wolf had saved him from the lion, but now he had to figure out what to do next.

All of a sudden, he heard voices coming from nearby. "Do you know where we can find shelter Jeff?" Asked the first voice. For some reason, it sounded awfully familiar to Arthur. "Not really Brain, we might have to build our own. Luckily, I know how since the same happened to me on a camping trip one time." Said the second voice.

Arthur did have suspicions of this being more anthros, but now he was having second thoughts. The first voice sounded an awful lot like one of his friends at school, and that alone gave him the courage to look out from the trees to see who the voices belonged to. When he looked out, he saw none other than Brian standing there with two other human boys.

He was glad to have found him, and didn't waste any more time in coming out of his hiding spot to meet the fellow survivors.

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The next morning, June woke up in the bunker on one of the many makeshift beds and saw that her parents and siblings were already up. She looked up at the TV in the shelter to see a message on it and heard the same announcement be read out loud through a speaker.

"Attention! The warning has been lifted! It is safe to go outside now and return to your normal lives. Repeat, The warning has been lifted! It is safe to go outside now and return to your normal lives!"

Everyone in the underground shelter began cheering in happiness that they could now go back home. And soon enough, the family was on their way home. However, the sky was a very strange light pinkish color, but it didn't matter to June as she just thought it was beautiful. But it did matter when they got home as glass was shattered and the house in general was not in a great state.

But the good news was that there was a team fixing up the house making it look good as new. However, June's father had gathered the rest of the family for a meeting. "Your mother and I have both decided to go about a plan for the day as I have an important meeting to attend and your mother has to go to another job out of town. So I'd like to take you kids to work with me. I think you might like it." The father said.

The kids all nodded as if they all agreed with their father. "And as a bonus, we have special transportation." Said their mother. "What would that be?" Asked Jake. "You'll see." Said the father. "But first, we need to get to where they actually travel."

20 minutes later, the family car was parked at a train station. When they walked aboard, there were many other anthros wearing the same uniform as their parents. Suddenly, an unfamiliar whistle was heard and a red tender engine pulled up to the platform with some coaches. The strange bit was that the locomotive had a face! It was gray, and roughly looked like one of a middle-aged adult. The engine also had a nameplate that read "Cuthbert".

June, Jake, Jayden, and Julie were all marveled by the living engine and some wanted to talk to it. "Um, hi." Said Jake. "What do you want kid?" Asked the engine. "I'm just interested Mr. Cuthbert. Where did you come from? And are there other engines with faces out there?" Asked Julie.

"Well, first of all, my real name is Johnny Cuba and come from Australia." Johnny Cuba said. "Then why does it say Cuthbert?" Asked Jake. "That's classified for now, but also practically every other steam, diesel, or any railway locomotive has a face these days. And lastly, I'm about to leave so you should get on board." Said Johnny Cuba.

All of a sudden, Johnny Cuba's crew came out from his cab. "Oi, kid. If you're getting on the train, now's the time to do so." Said the tiger driver. "Don't worry, I've got him, and he'll need a stern talking to. Come on Jake, we need to get on board." Said his father. "Awwwww, fine. I'll see you later Mr. Cuba." Said Jake.

"Please. Call me Johnny." Said Johnny Cuba. And soon enough, with a blow of the deer guard's whistle, and with a blow of his own, Johnny Cuba was off. While the ride through the countryside was about 20 minutes, it was very uneventful, especially since there was a surprising lack of wildlife out in the area safe for some of the bugs and insects.

But it wasn't long before reaching another station where there was a yard visible where a smaller blue engine with a face, whose class name escaped June and her siblings, was pushing three similar coaches onto another track at the same platform. "Alright, I'm sorry try say this, but I have to go." Said the mother. "What? Why?" Asked Jayden. "She just had a different place to go to." Said their father. "Don't worry about me, I promise I'll be back tonight." The mother said. Then, their mother got off the train and walked over and boarded the other train.

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A few minutes later, a red Class 42 warship diesel locomotive pulled into the station and coupled up to the coaches. "So I presume you are the infamous Johnny Cuba?" Asked the diesel as it looked at Johnny Cuba.

"Yes, and I'm guessing you are Number 5?" Asked Johnny Cuba. "Yes, I was ordered to take this train as I'm one of the lads on cleanup duty today." Said Number 5. Just then, the blue tank engine, a 1400 Class, rolled up alongside the Warship. "I heard there's another Warship coming today, and if you know anything about railway criminals, I'm sure you know who it is." Said the 1400.

"I suppose you're talking about Diesel 10. Yeah, I've heard of him, never really liked steam engines to begin with, yet here he is with the two of us." Said Johnny Cuba. "He's actually not alone, he's with two of his cronies, known as Splatter and Dodge. But commonly referenced as Splodge." Said the 1400.

"Well, do you know when they're arriving?" Asked Number 5. "He's actually already here as I recently heard news of the ship with them on board actually made it to the docks close to 2 hours ago now. I was also told recently that I was to join Cuba in heading down to the facility where we should be meeting him while another diesel shunter can take over for me." Said the 1400.

All of a sudden, a guard's whistle blew signifying that Number 5's train was ready to leave. "That's me, I'm off." Said the diesel. Once the warship left the station, it left the two steam engines by themselves with their passengers. Then Johnny's guard blew his whistle. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Asked Johnny Cuba as he pulled out of the station with the coaches in tow. "Hold up, I'm right behind you!" Said the 1400.

And soon, the two engines were on their way.