Rift in Reality [NaNoWriMo 2022]

Chapter 3: Tick Tick Boom

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, shit," 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.