Torment

Explosion

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my own cries as I crouched slowly behind him. I leant forward and hugged him from behind, laying my head against his back, comforting him as he sobbed. I wrapped my hands around his middle, closing my eyes as more images of dead bodies over the years raced through my mind. Curtis gently grabbed my hand with his, we needed each other's support, it was the only truthful thing left on this train. As we continued to mourn our experiences in the tail section,  the footsteps of Wilford became noticeable. Suddenly he stopped behind us and leant over me, he pulled out his hand and held a small silver capsule in front of Curtis's face. I gasped quietly, it was the same as the capsules that had been sent to the tail section, like the one in Timmy's protein block, the ones that had lead Curtis here. "I just wrote it. It's for you Curtis. Here." Wilford said as Curtis removed his hand from mine and took the capsule. I knelt up away from Curtis so I could see what was in the capsule. Curtis's shaky hands pulled apart and dropped the two silver capsule pieces to the floor as he held the final red note. He unrolled the paper, revealing the word 'Train'. "I am old. I want you to take my station." Wilford said suddenly as he walked round beside us. I looked to the man bizarrely, where on earth had this come from. "It's what you always wanted." Wilford continued as he leant down and pulled the two of us to our feet. "It's what Gilliam wanted too. You must tend to the engine, keep her humming." As Wilford's words sunk in, he put his arms around our shoulders and faced us the opposite way, back towards the door we had come through.

"Look Curtis, beyond the gate. Section after section precisely where they've always been and where they'll always be, all adding up to what? The train. And now the perfectly correct number of human beings, all in their proper places, all adding up to what? Humanity." Wilford continued. I didn't know what to say let alone think, the man sounded like a lunatic, but Curtis was giving me very mixed signals, his teary eyes were hard to read. "The train is the world, we the humanity. And now you have the sacred responsibility to lead all of humanity. Without you Curtis, without Hazel by your side, humanity will cease to exist. You've seen what people do without leadership. They devour one another." Before Wilford could continue a scream came from the other side of the door. The gate sparked and began to open. Claude made her way over to it, gun raised. I could hear Nam and Yona shouting, glass smashing and guns firing. The door finally opened fully, Nam was fighting a group of the club goers on the bridge, I guessed they'd followed us after Nam and Yona stole their drugs. Claude was now laying passed out on the floor after Yona bottled her.

"Look at them. That's how people are. You know. You've seen this. You've been this. Ridiculous. Pathetic, aren't they? You two can save them from themselves. This is what Gilliam saved you for." Curtis was looking on sternly as Wilford continued to talk, I was panicking, anxious of what was happening and what was about to happen. Curtis briefly looked between me and the open gate. "Curtis, this is your destiny." As Wilford finished, Yona began running towards us. "Curtis, the match!" She shouted desperately running from her father, ready to light the Kronole block for her father. Curtis held out his hand and stopped Yona coming forward anymore. The girl looked confused and scared. She looked between Curtis and me, I didn't know what he was doing, why he stopped her, but I did know that if that door was blown of the train, it was likely we'd all die from the elements. Before Yona said anything else she backed away but suddenly stopped, looking worried. I cocked my head to the said as she grabbed an object of off the table and began smashing it into the floor. What had she seen, she knew the future, what was this going to change?

The girl tried to use a fork to pry up the floorboards, she was panting desperately. Without thinking I rushed to her aid, Curtis wasn't far behind me, I knew he was still a good man. I knew he wanted what was best for all, not greed for power like Wilford. The three of us managed to lift the floor panel. We were met by the rotating cogs of the train's engine, but what else we saw wasn't what we were prepared for. Crammed in between the machine was Timmy. Tanya's little boy. His head had been shaved and he was tinkering away, completely brainwashed. "Timmy..." I breathed as Wilford crouched down and closed the floor panel. "The space only allows for a very small person. Young children under five. The engine might last forever, but not all of its parts. That piece of equipment went extinct recently. We needed a replacement." Wilford explained calmly as if it were completely ethical. I stared at him with wide eyes as he casually poured a drink.