Crossover

Chapter 19: The Train

We'd backed up to the beginning of the curve, allowing us some room to run.  I'd given him one of the cool Lravien magnetic hand grips that were in my bag, so that we could grip the train as it went by.

"It'll only go fifty miles an hour around the corner," I yelled to Zedron, over the whine of the approaching train. "But when it gets to the straights, it can go up to three times that."

He nodded, rather calm for what we were about to do.

I flicked my hand and we began to run along the narrow part of lip. The magnetic hand grips were both held in our right hands, the side that the train would be on. I'd done this before, but I hoped Zedron would be able to think on his feet. The slipstream around the train would be very powerful at fifty, and he needed to activate the mag-grip as close the train's hull as possible. If he stuck only his hand into the slipstream however, it could yank his hand backwards. That could wrench his shoulder, or worse, toss him off the lip.

We were running at quite a clip when the train caught up to us. I felt the almost solid wall of air around the train press against me as it passed. When the third to last car was alongside me, I jumped, throwing myself at the train. I twisted the little knob on the handgrip, and it activated it. The force of the magnet was so strong that it snapped me against the hull of the train with no problem.

I looked back, watching in agony as Zedron hurled himself towards the speeding train. If he didn’t make it, there was nothing I could do now. He hovered in the air for a moment, buoyed by the wind the train was putting out. But I saw the magnet take hold, and suck him down onto the train’s roof safely. I breathed a sigh of relief, and lay there on the roof of the train for a moment, just staring at the jungle we were passing.

As we began to pick up speed, straightening out after the curve, I flicked the knob on the mag-grip to release it. Hands splayed wide, I controlled the slide backwards onto the car behind me so I could meet up with Zedron.

He was a little worried by me sliding across the roof of a moving train, and stuck out his other arm to try to stop me. Grabbing onto my waist, he caught me and held on tight, trying not to let the wind rip me away.

"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled at me over the noise of the wind, once I'd activated the grip again.

"I was coming to meet you!" I yelled back. I would have been fine without his help.

Laying there flat against the roof of the train, I had an idea. It was probably stupid, but I just wanted to. I slowly lifted myself into a crouching position, slipping my left foot through the loop in the grip. Positioning myself sideways as to cut through the wind better, I stood up.

It was scary, but I hadn’t felt this amazing in so long. I felt so young again, so free. I grinned, adrenaline flooding my body. Shouting with exhilaration, I put both of my hands into the air, feeling the lift they gave much like the wings of a plane.

Zedron was looking at me like I'd just set myself on fire. It sure felt like that to me, what with the stinging wind and racing heart. It felt like my very soul was on fire.

"Come up!" I yelled, crumpling back to the roof of the train. I extended my hand out to him. "You'll love it.  Trust me."

He tentatively took my hand, and slipped his right foot through his mag-grip. Slowly, we stood up together. My hair was tossed around behind me as we rode on top of the train, the wind whipping away my shouts of delight.

The view was picturesque; the land rushing by below at an incredible speed, the sun just beginning to rise over the mountains and the ocean in the distance. It was truly like being on top of the world, and I hadn’t felt this truly happy in a long time. It was as if I was racing away from all my problems.

The whine of the train increased in pitch, nearing ultra-sonic. It was almost at its top speed, and I felt the pressure of the wind increase against me. I didn’t want to sit down though, and moved my right foot back a bit for better balance. The wind was biting cold, but the early rays of sun helped to counteract it.

The incredible speed of the train gave me such a thrill, turning my stomach over and over in the best way possible. I looked over at Zedron, the wind buffeting my eyelashes. He eyes were lit up, sparkling like a glass of champagne.

He pulled me in closer to him, shifting his stance and yelling into my ear so I could hear. “I’m so glad I came,” he said. “I feel so alive, it’s incredible!”

He held me by the shoulders, grinning like an idiot. I just closed my eyes and stood there, riding the waves of wind and elation. Riding the train was such a high; I wished it would never end.

But it had to.

I opened my eyes and looked ahead, towards the front of the train. The tracks began to curve slightly and a large mountain came into view. The tracks disappeared into the mountain, through a dark rounded entrance only just slightly bigger than the train itself.

I tapped Zedron on the shoulder and pointed ahead, gesturing for us to lie flat on the train again. There was no way we’d fit standing up, and it might be too small for us to fit even if we were crouching.

We quickly lowered ourselves to the roof, using each other for balance. We lay down on our sides, each holding on to a mag-grip and each other so we didn’t swing about. The mountain had snuck up on us, as ridiculous as that sounded.

I tilted my head up, gazing towards the front of the train. The gaping tunnel had gobbled up the front of it and was working its way towards us now. I gripped his hand tighter, crashing from the high I’d felt moments before. I focused on his blue eyes, holding my breath. I was waiting for the darkness.

And it came.

It crashed over us, the whine of the train suddenly echoing around us, threatening to tear us apart. The ceiling of the tunnel was shooting by just above our heads, barely two feet between the train and the rock.

It was the opposite of before, instead of being free and lifted in the air, I was being suffocated and squished. The sound was so deafening I buried my head into Zedron’s chest, just trying to block it out. It reminded me of the avalanche on Ralea. And it wouldn’t stop reverberating.

I held on tight, trying to wait out the tunnel.

Finally we burst into light, the rush of air flowing out of the tunnel sounding like a sigh.

We lay there, breathing in the fresh salty air and just relaxing. I let my head roll to the side to look at Zedron.

He was looking at me like I’d taken him to heaven and back. “You were holding out on me before,” he breathed. He cast his free arm sweeping out to gesture to the landscape. “This is what you get? All this…” He struggled for a next word, but ended up just smiling at me, speechless.

I nodded. “It’s amazing isn’t it? Going from the highs to the lows, the light to the weight?”

He just smiled. “Now I know why you are always so intense.” He said.

I closed my eyes and we lay there for a while; plastered to the top of the train as the sun rose.