Chapter 2

**THIS CHAPTER IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. MORE WILL BE ADDED AND THE CHAPTER SHOULD BE COMPLETE BY 3/9/2013**

2

The train was moving steadily across the vast wasteland, grinding and grumbling over rubble and glass. Peering up at the murky sky, I wondered what I would be getting myself into-- what we would be getting ourselves into. There's just no way they'd let us loose here, absolutely no way, not with all the young ones and those with disabilities aboard. We'd surely all be ill (or even attacked), and that's surely not what our government would want for its people...right?

Children strolled up and down the aisles, obviously oblivious to the new world, but still curious, whilst the older ones began to gather their thoughts, whispers beginning to flood the air. The young man who had earlier exclaimed his frustration was now sitting silently, solemnly, to himself, grasping the wrist tightly of his little brother's (which should be the other way around in theory). I studied the younger one for a moment; he was a fidgety little guy with an enormous backpack that I was worried would take him over when he gets up to stand. His small, round face was almost as pale and his brother's, but definitely a lot more insecure, the elder one just seemed more troubled. I felt a bit sorry for the two and wanted to sit along beside them, but not knowing what their lives down below had held for them before, I also felt I had no right to butt in.

I don't know anymore, I began to think, I was looking forward to this trip so much, but I just don't know what to think. Am I really serving my country in this way? Am I really making a change? I gripped the overhead bar a little tighter and began to come a little frustrated myself, when the freight suddenly came to a jolting stop.

Kids slid to their buttocks, slipped down the aisles, and others, including I, lunged for balance. "We've come to a stop?" I asked aloud.

"Indeed," answered a voice beside me, "but I'm not quite sure where." I turned to find a beautiful young lady, perhaps a couple years older than I, staring blankly at the canvass of ruins that was laid out on the other side of the glass screens.  

"Agreed," I acknowledged back, a little uncertain. I tried to introduce myself to the lady, until the siren went off again and a voice returned over the loud speaker.

"Attention passengers, we are approaching our drop-off destination. Please look on the upper right hand corner of your validation ticket for a 3-digit number. Locate the corresponding number on the overhead bins of the car to find your trek gear and begin to dress up. The train will still be in motion, so please take caution about moving around the car, thank you."

Trek gear? "Wait," I started puzzled, "they're not going to be making us walk out there are they? In this God-forsaken place"

"Well wait, no need in bringing God into this," chuckled the lady next to me, with a now distinct British accent, "and who knows, honey? Besides, you can never trust these people anyway." 

She tucked away her ticket and began to look around the car for her bin and I decided I ought to start looking myself. My heart was racing, as were those of the other passengers, and I couldn't seem to be thinking clearly either. I tried to brush myself politely passed crying adolescents and consoling young adults, but the atmosphere was tense. If it wasn't for the antidepressants I had taken earlier I would have broken down by now. Children pleading to go home, young ones crying to see their parents, fifteen year olds that now had to play the role of mom and dad, those in wheelchairs cornered at their seats could not even begin to search for their gear, and the elder ones trying to keep everyone calm, yet who are slowly deteriorating on the inside themselves, made me lightheaded. Everyone was in a scramble, a whirlwind of chickens without their heads, a bit like those charging for lifeboats on the Titanic. 

The train was moving slowly with occasional, abrupt stops, but I was able to find my bin and began to equip the accouterments bundled in the bin: A thick, navy-blue body suit and...a gas mask? I thought, How lovely.

Before I knew it the combustion had slowed to a halt. Every eye peered out the large windows before us only to see the same fractured picture and I began to wonder if we really were going to have to walk among these ruins ourselves. Once again the siren arose, but this time emitting a different kind of chime, and one more piercing at that, and the passengers around me scrambled into fixed lines, as if ready to take orders from a captain. 

I still felt uneasy.