Torment

Classroom

After finishing our meal, the seven of us followed Mason into the next cart. It was a refrigerated carriage. Butchered carcasses hung from the walls and ceilings on hooks. The meat was obviously being prepared for consumption. I sighed, how could they let us eat those protein blocks when they had all of this food available. It was just pure greed. Mason tripped as she looked back to us. "Curtis my friend, do you think that we might dispense with the restraints for this next section?" She asked optimistically. "I'm not your friend. And why would I?" Curtis replied sternly. "For the sake of the young? Education" Mason stammered as we neared another door.

All of a sudden, we were greeted by the high pitched screams of young kids. We were in a sort of classroom carriage. Brightly painted walls were covered in children's paintings and a smartly dressed woman with a blonde curled bob, probably their teacher, stood before them. We'd placed a piece of material over Mason's cuffs, we didn't want to release her, but understood what she meant. None of this was a child's fault. "Good morning children." Mason greeted as she and the rest of us entered the cart. "I'm pleased to present guests from the tail section." She continued. I looked around with a heavy heart. All of the children we'd lost, the ones that were starving, Timmy, Andy, none of them had ever experienced anything like this.

"Yes, and what do we say to tail section guests, children?" The teacher asked in a sickly high pitched voice. "Good morning tail section guests!" The kids screamed in unison, startling us all. Moments later Tanya squeezed past Mason, Andrew not far behind her. "Timmy?" Tanya sobbed, rushing to a boy with an afro. I looked down as we realised it wasn't her boy. Andrew and Tanya quickly unfolded their drawings, asking if the children had seen their boys. Suddenly a kid in a green jumper stood up at the back. "I saw them!" He shouted as we all whipped our heads around. "When?" Tanya asked, "Where?" Andy quickly followed. "Came through there, went through there." The child explained pointing from the door we'd just walked through and the one behind the teacher. "Is that all boy?" Mason asked with a smile. "Yes," he replied with a nod. "Were they crying?" Tanya asked, her bruised face still sore. "No, but they looked like they wanted to." The boy answered truthfully.

Before Tanya and Andrew could say anything more an older, snobbish little girl stood to her feet. "I heard all tail sectioners were lazy dogs and they all drink their own shit." The girl spoke proudly, probably copying her parent's words. I shook my head; they had no idea. "No, they're very nice. And very just and merciful." Mason quickly corrected. "Excuse me, little girl," I spoke, causing Curtis and the other adults to look at me with raised eyebrows. The girl looked me up and down. "I'm afraid that whatever mummy and daddy have told you is very wrong. You see, I'm a nurse, and I work extremely hard to make sure the children, like you, in our section of the train stay as fit and healthy as possible. But it's incredibly difficult, do you know why that is?" I asked. She shook her head no. "It's because I also have to deal with all of the shit you and the other front sectioners send down to us." I finished with a sarcastically sweet smile. The girl frowned and slowly took her seat once more, embarrassed. Mason gulped. The teacher, sensing the new atmosphere, spoke up. "Minister Mason, we were just about to show a video."

"Very good," Mason replied, as we all turnt to the front of the carriage. I caught Curtis's eye as we turned. "That was a brilliant answer nurse Ferguson!" Curtis exclaimed quietly, making fun of the teachers' accent. I giggled before the sound of a television caught my attention. My god, I hadn't seen a tv since I stepped foot on this train. The kids suddenly started cheering Wilford's name, holding their fingers into a 'W' sign. "From a very young age, Mr Wilford's love of locomotives was apparent." The narrator on the video began. The kids cheered as Wilford spoke. "His early dreams were realised when he founded his transportation empire, the Wilford Industries. But his greatest dream was to construct a luxury locomotive cruise line connecting railways of the entire world into one." the teacher explained as we all continued to look at the screen. It showed a map of the earth and the route that Snowpiercer travelled.

The teacher turned the tv off before speaking again. "As hard as it is to believe, people in the old world made fun of Mr Wilford. They criticised him for over-engineering and over equipping this wonderful train. But Mr Wilford knew something they did not. And what was that?" The teacher asked the class. The same bitchy female pupil spoke up again. "Old world people were frigging morons who got turned into popsicles." I let out a breathy laugh at her answer, these kids were so brainwashed. "Well, sort of. Mr Wilford knew that CW7 would freeze the world. So, what did the prophetic Mr Wilford invent to protect the chosen from that calamity?" The teacher asked looking down to her stomach and hugging the baby bump I had only just noticed. "The engine!" The children all cheered in unison. "Rumble, rumble, rattle, rattle, it will never die!" The teacher and her pupils sang, almost as if they were in some sort of cult. The teacher made her way over to a piano and began to play. The instrument rotated and spun her in circles as the class began to sing. The words rattled on about the engine, the children sang about how they'd freeze and die if it ever stopped running. Curtis and I were mortified by the song, as were the others, but Mason, the teacher and children were all having a wonderful time by the looks of things. As the song finished the children began to chant Wilford's name once more.

"Oh, I love that one! Such a tonic." Mason said with a smile looking back to Curtis and me. "Oh, it's time. Children come this way." The teacher exclaimed as the children left their desks and ran towards the front of the carriage. The children pushed past us, taking a seat by the window of the classroom. "Who can tell me what's coming up?" The teacher asked. "The frozen seven!" The children answered. "Pay attention, this tableau will surely be on the exam. 15 years ago, in the third year of the train, seven passengers tried to stop Wilford's miracle train and go outside." The teacher explained, cradling her stomach as she waddled towards the children. "And what do we call this event, Magdalena?" The teacher asked a girl. "The Revolt of the Seven." The girl replied. "Very good, long before you were born." The lady answered. I shook my head, I remembered this, Curtis and I were still very young ourselves. "Of course, they failed to stop the train. Instead, they jumped out of the running train. Here they come now." The teacher finished pointing out the window. As we all looked through the glass at snowy mountain tops, seven ice-covered figurines came into view. "There they are. That's how far they made it." The teacher explained with gritted teeth. The individuals hadn't even made it a mile away from the tracks. The outside was not survivable.

"If we ever go outside the train? We all freeze and die." The children and their teacher began to chant again. I shook my head. "What the fuck is this Curtis? What are they teaching them?" I asked, leaning to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "It's all Wilford's doing," Curtis replied simply, looking back to me sadly.