The Abandoned Island

Returning to Friends

It would still be dark out when Zeph woke up, but not long after she woke up, she would hear an owl hoot. She would curse under her breath, remembering back to her first time on the island and what Edward said. "That had to be a coincidence. There is no way that bird always knows when fog or mist will roll in." She mumbled as she used her first aid kit to clean and bandage her wounds. Afterwards, she ate some breakfast and drank some water as she looked out the window into the dreary sky. This would make day four of it storming, and with her prior experience, that meant the last time she was here wasn't a fluke either. "It is like the island is trying to get rid of me. As if it is trying to protect those that live here," she said thoughtfully as she bundled herself back up, "But I'm not leaving till everyone here is happy and the island is saved!" As soon as she said that, there was a crack of lightning that lit up the sky and the room she was in. "Do your worst! I won't lose to you!" she then went quiet before groaning and holding her head. "I'm yelling at the weather. Maybe I've finally gone crazy like my best friend always tells me I am....achoo!" she groans again after her sneeze. She grumbled but headed outside and began walking north again. She was sick and hurt, it was storming, and she just taunted an island full of sentient machines, what could possibly go wrong.

It wouldn't even be an hour before a thick and muggy fog would roll in, making seeing basically impossible. To make sure she wouldn't get lost, she was hunched over and staring at her feet. She was walking in the middle of one of the sets of tracks, but besides a foot around her, she couldn't see anything else in any direction. So she would trudge forward, mumbling and grumbling as she did. Time would drag by, and the fog didn't get any thinner, and the rain didn't let up. She was sneezing, crumbling, trudging, and cursing as she steadily walked forward. After several hours, she would reach Tidmouth, though she couldn't see the collapsed roof and ended up smacking her head into one of the metal beams and yelping. "Ow, stupid god.... well, unless I did a big circle, I'm at least back at Tidmouth," she mumbled as she rubbed her head. She carefully maneuvered around the twisted metal and broken glass and headed towards the shed. She had to go slow, as the last thing she wanted to do was fall into the turntable well. She did eventually find it and carefully crossed the turntable and to the sheds, "Finally ba...ba... achoo!...ugh..." She grumbles but enters the shed at Boco's berth. The diesel looked relieved to see her as she entered, "I'm glad you are safe, but where were you? I've been worried about you! We all have!" She sighed softly, "I'm sorry, Boco. I hate sitting it one place for so long, so I walked to Knapford to see if Rocky was there. Then yesterday, I walked around Knapford station and hurt myself and then walked all the way to Lower Tidmouth, and today, I walked back here." The diesel sighed. "Edward and I warned you to not go off by yourself. We told you you'd get hurt, and look what happened," he scolded as he looked at her bandages, which were slightly pink.

She lowered her head as she looked at her feet, "I'm sorry, Boco. I just couldn't stand just sitting here and waiting for the storm to go by." "I understand, but going out in a storm by yourself is far worse than sitting here and being bored. Now I'm going to have to tell Edward you got hurt on my watch." The green diesel said, as if they were a guardian having to tell a kids parent what their kid did. "Sorry, Boco," She said quietly as she sat down in front of him with a grunt. Watching her, Boco knew she was sorry and understood how bored she must be. After all, she came here to rebuild, and the weather wasn't agreeing with her.

She would rest with her back against the door, resting after her long walk, sneezing and shivering. She was definitely sick, and even her warm meals offered little in the way of help. The other engines felt bad for her, even Gordon. She was trying to help them and stay busy, but she couldn't do anything during the storm, or more accurately, she refused to do anything that involved them during a storm. Boco knew this far better than the others in the shed, but he had told them the previous day. "Hey, Boco. Even if it is still storming, can we head back tomorrow, please?" Zeph asked softly. The big diesel smiled, "Missing the others?" The girl nodded, "That is one reason, yes. Another is that the week has flown by, and it is almost time to take our next shipment." Boco hadn't thought about that, but that was a very good point. There was a soft, attention getting, cough beside them. "What do you mean by shipment?" asked Henry softly. "Oh? Didn't I tell you all?" Zeph looked surprised but then frowned as Gordon said, "No. You have been so busy running off that you have told us almost nothing."