Chapter 14: Part 2

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Of course, the train had emerged from the other side of the shelter before I could even take my third step. I felt the vibrations from the train beneath my feet, which only fazed me a little. Though I had only been sprinting for a couple of seconds, it sure felt pretty damn long. The train did not look like it was going to slow down any second, so I did not bother using my powers.

Eventually, I reached the end of the shelter, where I launched myself as far as I could onto the train. Fortunately, half of the train was yet to surpass the shelter, which made me feel safe for a moment. However, feeling safe was not a priority for I fell on top of the train belly-first, which had not hurt as much as I expected. As I slid down the train in an amusingly awkward fashion, I struggled to identify what I had to do next in order to remain on top of the train.

It was until my feet found themselves briefly trapped in the gap between the carriages that I found a solution. I quickly lifted my feet from the gap as I did not have much control and could fall off easily if I carried on using them. This allowed my body to slide into position so that my fingers were in the gap instead.

At first, the sheer force of the train's velocity placed stress on my fingers to the point where I thought they were about to snap, but then I had grown used to the numbing pain and built the confidence of that I could last five minutes or so, but then the signs arrived. The first few were narrowly avoidable by simply ducking my head down, but then there were the ones that nearly scratched the train themselves.

I did not know how to tackle the situation initially so I just chose the obvious route, which was jumping over them. At the back of my mind, I knew that something bad was bound to happen, but since I was only at the center of the train, I was permitted to risk stumbling on top of it without having to worry about falling off the back.

Once I judged that the sign was near enough, my hands let go of the carriage, only to boost myself upwards like I was performing a press-up. With the help of my feet, I launched myself in the air for several seconds, which was a scary yet incredible experience. I was pretty sure I had even performed several unintentional somersaults while in the air.

It was such a blur, but gravity ultimately sent me back onto the roof again. As my body landed, my hands immediately clutched everything in a frenzy to not slide off the end of the train. I was only exposed to flat surfaces until my feet were slightly pulled forward by an unexpected indent on the train. I was nowhere near any gaps between the carriages, meaning this indent could only be one thing, which was the hatch, my savior. I placed my palm in the middle of the train and waited until the hatch's handle met my hand, which was chafed from the burn of the train's surface.

I had no idea whether or not the sign had already passed, but I was too exhausted to even bother looking ahead or behind me. I was feeling like I was starting to pass out, even though I was still conscious for the next ten seconds. Sooner or later, I stopped being the world's first human sloth, and moved my head upwards to check if there were any more overhanging formations to avoid. I had realized that I made a mistake for I should have just kept my head down, as yet another sign was seconds from impact.

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