Torment

Paul

Curtis called Nam to the front of the windowed carriage we were still in. We all huddled around him once more as he pulled off a panel by the next set of gates. He put his hands inside the wall and fiddled around with wires connecting to the motherboard. As Nam was working, I moved away from the tail end passengers and sat on a seat by the window. I stared out the rectangular glass, silently and solemnly. Movement next to me caught my attention and I smiled as Curtis took a seat beside me, everyone else's focus still on Nam.

"It just doesn't seem real, does it," I said softly giving my attention back to the ice-laden terrain outside. "It never did," Curtis replied leaning his chin on my shoulder as he too, looked out the window. I turned to face him, he moved his chin and stared back at me. "You're so beautiful." Curtis breathed as he held a hand up to my face and ran his finger across my cheek. I blushed, looking down embarrassed before looking back up into his deep blue eyes. I swallowed quickly before darting my eyes towards the other tail end passengers who were all still very engaged with Nam. I took a deep breath as I looked up to Curtis and leaned forward. Seeing that the man hadn't pulled away, I closed my eyes and gently kissed him. I waited for his hesitation, thinking that maybe he regretted what he had done in his haste a couple of hours back, but it never came. Moments later, Curtis had wrapped his arms around my small frame and pulled me closer into him. Our lips were moving in almost a dancing motion. Everything I had ever wanted for the last 17 years was coming true. Curtis clearly felt the same as I did for him. As we pulled away from one another and rested our foreheads together I couldn't stop the grin spreading across my face.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," I whispered taking his hand in mine and rubbing my thumb across the back of his hand. "The last 17 years?" Curtis asked with a chuckle, I nodded "Ever since you jumped into the carriage. " I smiled leaning against him. I could tell Curtis was smiling. His body was relaxed, my mind was at ease and in that moment, everything was perfect, nothing mattered as long as we had each other. Murmuring from the other passengers caught our attention and it seemed like Nam was almost finished. Curtis stood up before holding out his hand to me. I took hold of it as the two of us walked back over to Nam who was still working on the control panel. I caught Edgar's eye and he gave me a cheeky smile causing me to shake my head, but soon we were interrupted by Yona.

The young girl was seated on the floor next to her father like before. She held out her hand and asked Curtis for Kronole once more. "How did you know there was nobody there?" Curtis asked as he handed her two more blocks of the drugs with his free hand, his other still holding mine. "He's running," Yona replied, not answering his question. I looked to Curtis with an eyebrow raised as a loud bang indicated that Nam had managed to open the gate. I dropped Curtis's hand and grabbed on to my knife. I looked forward as the large steel doors cracked open, music filling my ears. I was quite taken aback; I hadn't heard music in years. My shock was soon replaced with uncertainty as a familiar-looking man ran towards us. Just like Yona had predicted....

The man had goggles on his forehead and was dressed in an apron and long rubber gloves. Just like us, he was extremely filthy. As the man got closer to us as we all walked in, he jumped upwards and grabbed onto a wheel valve. "Paul?" Curtis questioned as the man hung from the ceiling. That's why he looked familiar. Paul was a tail section passenger that was taken by the front a couple of years back. He must have been here ever since. "Paul! What is he doing?" Edgar asked me and Curtis as we all looked up at the man. "He looks so different." I breathed taking in his features as the strange music continued to play and Edgar continued calling the man's name. "Just a second. It's used to be automatic, but parts went extinct." Paul said as he tried to turn the wheel. "That's not the Paul that I remember." Edgar whispered to Curtis and I. "No. Paul? It's Curtis!" Curtis tried again, calling up to the man. "They ain't coming back, so now I gotta do it. Manually." Paul finished confusing me with his words. He finally twisted the valve causing a puff of steam and a mechanical sound to start. Paul cried out in happiness, jumping down as the machine behind him started, revealing a conveyor belt that had hundreds of protein blocks being made upon it. I looked at the protein blocks warily as Tanya walked forward. "So that's how it's made. Still hot." She said as she reached out and grabbed one, the rest of the tail passengers doing the same. I stood back with Curtis as Painter spoke, a protein block in his hand. "Look at them all. You do some nice work."