CHAPTER 12: SNOWY TRAIN RIDE

FEBRUARY 26, 1991

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

 

            By the time Kevin regained his balance, stood up, and turned around with his Time-Blast, Lee was gone. He threw his Time-Blast back onto his belt and threw himself in his seat. Everyone around him was scared at what they just witnessed, but Kevin didn’t care. He frantically looked around in his jacket and pockets for a pen, and when he found it, he opened the book and proceeded to write, in case our heroes were to come back.

            In the middle of writing, though, he heard just what he wanted: a thud on the roof.

 

            The red swirly portal let Seth, Lee, and Johnny out on the roof of the train. Johnny ran over to the emergency hatch o the roof and opened it. When he tried to stick his head in, he got shocked. He jolted upright, stunned, and fell back on the roof, out cold. Lee ran over to check his pulse, and it was there. Seth, who still had the stick his was using as a cane, limped over to Johnny and knelt down. On either side of the train’s roof, there were little bars that stuck up, and Johnny was lying right between two of them. Seth used his big stick, lodging under the two bars but over Johnny’s limp body, as a makeshift harness, and after it was securing Johnny, Seth himself held on for safety.

            Lee ran up to the safety door on the roof, but didn’t stick his head in. He only peered in, not wanting to experience what his unconscious friend did. He looked around until he saw Kevin writing in his book. He opened his jacket and pulled out a small pair of binoculars, held them up to his eyes, and zoomed into Kevin. He couldn’t make out what was being written completely well, but he saw the gist of what he needed to.

            “What is it?” asked Seth.

            “He’s writing in the book.” Lee said. “It looks like he knew we’d be coming, so he’s writing obstacles for us so we can’t reach him. I couldn’t quite see what was being written, but I could make out ‘…they cannot enter the train, unless they face getting shocked…’”

            “Perfect. Anything else?”

            “I could see he was writing one more thing, but I couldn’t see what, exactly.”

            Seth pointed. “Duck!” he yelled.

            Lee quickly turned to see they were at a tunnel. They both flopped on the train’s roof like dead fish as the trained zoomed into the mountainside tunnel.

            What waited on the other side was what Kevin was writing.

 

            When the train exited the tunnel on the other side, it was like a completely different place�"or climate, for that matter. The temperature dropped to frigid cold, the bright sunny sky turned into a huge dark gray bleh, the nice breeze turned into a winter blizzard. So thick, when Lee and Seth sat back up again they could barely see each other�"despite being feet apart from one another. The sudden frigid cold was sudden enough to bring consciousness back to Johnny. He slammed up, hoping to stand, but slammed to a halt when he realized he was stuck in place. “WHAT THE HELL???” he screamed. ”TAKE THIS DAMNED STICK OFF OF ME!”

            Seth did as he was asked and freed Johnny from his makeshift harness. When Johnny went to move though, due to snow and slickness, he slipped and nearly fell off the roof.

            But Seth dove across the roof and saved him.

            Almost.

            Johnny hung off the side of the train, only being held by Seth, who’s leg was being held by Lee, who was holding on to the rim of the open hatch he was standing at. Johnny was screaming.

            “HOLD ON, SETH!” he yelled. “HOLD ON AS TIGHT AS YOU CAN!”

            “I’M TRYING!” Seth yelled back. “I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU!”

            Johnny, dangling from one hand, swung his other arm up to grab Seth’s open one. He tried to grab, but just fell short. He swung again, this time succeeding. ”I GOT YOU,” Seth yelled, “HOLD ON TIGHTER!”

            “I’M TRYING!” Johnny yelled back.

            Seth pulled up, but slipped again. Johnny was scared. If Seth let go, it would be the ultimate treason, purely letting go to kill him and overtake TIME Agency, or to even avoid punishment, at least that’s what Johnny felt, even though it wasn’t true. I swear, if he drops me it will be considered treason so he doesn’t get punished for his true crimes! were his exact thoughts.

            The train sped up, and the faster they got the colder it became. The frigid temperatures was loosening Seth and Johnny’s grips already, but they toughed it out and kept pushing through�"until they heard a scream. “LOOK OUT!” Lee yelled. Johnny and Seth looked up to Seth’s left (Johnny’s right) and saw a huge cloud, almost, of snow and ice accumulated in the air on the tracks. Lee looked in the open hatch and saw Kevin writing. Lee knew Kevin was trying to bring their trio to a duo. He could feel it.

            Seth and Johnny looked away to shielded their faces as best as they could but it was no use. The train sped into the accumulated cloud of cold. It was too much for Seth. His burnt leg instantly froze; he felt if he closed his eyes they’d stick shut; it was so clod he audibly lets out a scream. But that wasn’t the worst part.

            The worse part wasn’t in his face�"it was in his hands.

            As soon as they sped into this cloud of cold, Seth felt everything in his hands get lighter. And when they emerged from this cloud of snow and ice and cold, it was confirmed.

            No more heavy weight. No more risk of losing anyone.

            You can’t lose what’s already gone.

 

            Lee and Seth sat atop of the roof, silent, remembering as they looked out on the snowy mountain and water slowly turning into ice. Finally, Lee broke the silence. “We need to get in this train ASAP.”

            “Where’s he going?” Seth asked. “Didn’t you talk to him?”

            Lee thought for a second.

            Trench Coat Man tapped Hardcover on the shoulder. “’Ello, mate,” he said, “do you have the time?”

            Hardcover pulled down his sleeve to reveal a fancy watch. “It is…5:15.”

            “Thanks, mate.”

            “No problem.” He turned back around.

            “So, where ya goin’?”

            Hardcover turned back around. “I’m headed to San Francisco. My wife is due today.”

            “San Francisco!” Lee yelled out. He flicked his wrist really quickly and looked at his watch. It says we should be getting there in 5 minutes!”

            “He has the book. If we get off of the train he’ll know and do more!”

            “Yeah, I guess you’re rig�"Wait! I have an idea!” Lee leaned in and whispered to Seth. “If we travel to any point in history for 5 minutes, we can travel back here, AFTER he’s gotten off of the train, and follow him to the hospital, but we’d be in disguises.”

            “Great idea!” Seth exclaimed. He grabbed his cane stick and turned to Lee again. “Quick, pick a random time from your ‘Travel History’, and quickly!”

            Lee looked at his Travel History�"or a section in the watch where he sees everywhere he’s traveled since his watch was reset�"and clicked on a random time. The red swirly portal opened and they both quickly hopped in.

            Time itself was possibly o the line here.