Torment

Steak

Nam looked between Curtis and me before he held up the translator and began speaking. "Thanks for the story, Curtis. But I don't want to open the gate. You know what I really want? I want to open gates." Curtis sighed as Nam continued. "But not this gate. That one." He finished pointing to a sealed metal door to our right. It was a gated door out to the frozen earth. "The gate to the outside world. It's been frozen shut for 18 years. You might as well call it a wall. But it's a fucking gate. Let's open it and just get the hell out." Nam finished through his translator. I looked to him puzzled. "And freeze to death?" I asked remembering Andrews arm and the Revolt of the Seven. "What are you fucking crazy?" Curtis finished looking down.

"What if we don't? What if we could survive outside?" Nam began once more, pulling on the fur coat he had stolen. "Remember Yekaterina Bridge? When you guys were getting chopped up? There's something I look at every New Year. A crashed aeroplane buried under the snow. All I saw 10 years ago was the tail. Now the body and wings are peeking out. Less ice and snow mean...." I looked up slowly. "It's melting?" I questioned; Nam nodded. "It's the type of snow that's about to melt. A little push and it all falls down. And you know what I saw recently? Outside the window, there was..." Nam laughed before he continued. "Never mind. No need to tell you this." Nam finished, whispering away to himself.

"You gotta take it easy on that Kronole. Snorting that flammable shit is going to fry your brain." Curtis replied holding his head in his hands. I nodded, I hated the stuff, it's like a source of evil. "That's exactly right. Think of what Kronole is. This fucking flammable industrial waste. Light it up and boom!" Nam explained as he gathered his blocks of Kronole and mushed them together, forming a sort of explosive styled putty block. "Oh my god." I breathed. The amount the man had was enough to blow a hole in the side of the train. "It's a bomb you idiot." Nam finished, holding up the block and looking at Curtis. He grabbed a piece of string from his pocket and shoved it into the explosive putty. "I didn't stock this shit for years just to get high. It's to blow up this gate." Nam explained as he stood to his feet and walked away from us towards the sealed door. I looked to Curtis worryingly. We still needed Nam to get to Wilford.

Nam stuck the Kronole against the metal door before turning back to us and demanding the last remaining match from Curtis. "What the fuck are you doing?" Curtis said quickly rising to his feet. I stood too, rolling my eyes, it was coming around. "Give it to me," Nam demanded. "Nam just take that off the door, let's speak about this." I tried to bargain for Curtis. Nam shouted in response but suddenly the large W logo door beside us hissed and opened. The door protecting Wilford was opening. Before we could really grasp what was going on, the lady in the yellow coat, the one that had taken Timmy and Andy walked through the small crack in the door. Before anything was said she held up a pistol and shot Nam. I shouted out his name, but it didn't matter, he was already slumped on the floor, injured. Curtis stood shocked, putting his hand in front of me, and pushing my body behind his. We stood watching the woman as she lowered the gun. Nam was groaning on the floor as the yellow lady walked over him and brought out her tape measure. She held it up against the Kronole block Nam had stuck to the door. "Curtis Everett, Hazel Ferguson. I've been asked to extend a formal invitation for Mr Wilford to join him for dinner. After you." The woman instructed after she removed the block of Kronole and pointed the gun at us.

I gulped as we began walking, looking at the blue light, humming from behind the door. Curtis walked in front of me, the woman looked me up and down staring at my axe. She cleared her throat and nodded to my weapon. Reluctantly I dropped it to the floor, her gun was more intimidating than I'd like to admit. We walked in silence as the yellow lady picked up the machine gun Curtis had dropped earlier and forced us to continue. As we walked into the room the lady kept her pistol trained on us. She pressed a button and the door closed behind us. Wilford's quarters were decorated from floor to ceiling with a chrome finish. A few wooden cabinets and sides littered the walls and there was a table, with three chairs around it, sat to the side. A man, who I assumed was Wilford, stood at a sort of mini cooking space, but I couldn't take my eyes off of what was behind him. The engine. Through a circular archway was the tip end of the train. A perfect machine that rotated methodically, it was almost a thing of beauty, it was just a shame knowing the blood it had cost.

"Curtis, is that you? Curtis dear boy. Come in." Wilford began as we edged forward slightly. "And Hazel, sweet Nurse Ferguson, I welcome you." I shuddered at his calm tone. "Let's take a look at the both of you." He continued as we came to a stop. I could practically feel Curtis's rage rolling of off him. "Are you hungry? You did a man's work coming all this way." Wilford continued to say as the yellow lady circled behind us. Pulling out two chairs and telling us to sit. I looked to Curtis nervously as he continued to stand. "You two are the first human beings to walk the total length of this train. Tail to engine. Did you know that? Well done. Bravo." Wilford explained still pottering with something at the stove, I believed it was steak, it smelt amazing. Curtis looked to me briefly before taking a seat, I followed swiftly as we listened and watched the man cook.

"None of your people have ever been here, to the engine. I've never been to the tail section." Wilford stated. "Why not? Too dirty for you? Don't want to rub against the vermin of the tail section?" Curtis asked, playing with fire. I gulped once more, suddenly more nervous, and less fierce than I had previously been. "Do you think my station is without its own drawbacks? It's noisy and it's lonely." Wilford exclaimed. I scoffed. "It must be truly awful for you." I smiled sarcastically, hoping my dirt and blood-covered body really gave him a message. "Steaks, plenty of room. This whore to bring you anything you want." Curtis snapped back, nodding towards the woman in yellow.

"Curtis, everyone had their preordained position. You should know that Hazel. It's like a hospital." I scoffed. The cheek of this man, I felt my anger building up once more. "Everyone is in their place, except for you two," Wilford explained. "That's what people in the best place say to people in the worst place," I said through gritted teeth. "There's not a soul on this train that wouldn't trade places with you." Curtis finished. "Would you trade places with me?" The elderly man said. "Fuck you." Curtis spat in reply.

It was only now that I'd truly taken in Wilford's  appearance. He was old, probably late 50s-70s depending on the life he had led. He wore a disgustingly patterned dressing gown and had little hair on his head. "Curtis, dear boy, the fact is we are all stuck inside this blasted train. We are all prisoners in this hunk of metal. Medium rare?" He explained and then asked looking between us and the steak. I frowned, what a dick. "And this train is a closed ecosystem. We must always strive for balance. Air, water, food supply, the population must always be kept in balance. For optimum balance, however, there have been times when more radical solutions were required when the population needed to be reduced rather drastically." I looked down, tears brimming my eyes as the realisation of that cannibalism at the start, the lack of medical supplies, the failed revolutions and the murder of my friends was all planned by Wilford to control the population. What a monster.