“Well, that was kind of them, wasn’t it?”
Albert snorted. “More like prideful. He didn’t seem the type to be comfortable owing a debt to anyone.”
Mrs. Moore smiled. “Well, whatever it was that drove him, we’ll be thankful and put this to good use.”
Albert rubbed at the grey stubble on his chin and gave the teacher a shrewd glance.
“Well, the bread is a right treat but it would be a mistake to use up them eggs. Those are little jewels to be had. I know some good people in this town and if you would trust me, I could trade them off for you for much more than a meal or two.”
The older woman cocked her head to the side and waited for him to elaborate. “Dry beans, rice, jerky, stuff like that. It’d travel further without spoiling and make more meals than a couple omelets.” He shrugged his shoulder when Mrs. Moore continued to stare at him. “Well, suit yourself. I just thought it would help to have more supplies. Len told me you all are heading up into Canada and well, you seem like a decent bunch so…” He ran out of steam and stuffed his one free hand into a pocket. Mrs. Moore finally changed her expression and smiled.
“Albert, I would be grateful to you if you could make such a trade. We’ll keep the bread but the eggs can be traded if you think you can do that. Please remember that except for one other adult, all these children are depending on what you can bring back so please - do your best.”
The teacher scooped out the two wrapped loaves of bread and handed Albert the basket of eggs. He took it from her and looked to April and back before saying, “Don’t worry, I’m a mean haggler! I’ll get you a good trade for sure. Now you ladies get on back to bed and I’ll have your supplies for you in the morning.”
They climbed back onto the train and as April settled back under her blanket she found it much easier to fall asleep.
They had been on the train for five days and everyone was bored and restless from the monotony of being stuck in the passenger car with nothing to do. The only thing to change was the landscape as they travelled through mountains, valleys and fields. Albert said they had crossed into Washington and were headed towards Idaho but it didn’t mean anything to the girls except they were getting closer to Canada.
Even with the extra supplies that Albert had traded their eggs for, the two meals they had a day became smaller and everyone worried about how much food they had and when it would run out. Mrs. Moore tried to reassure them that she’d be able to hunt and trap once they were off the train but all the girls were skeptical that their old teacher could do it. So, to kill time and keep their minds busy, Mrs. Moore pulled out a ball of rolled up wire and began to demonstrate how to construct snares. She told them how easy it was to find this type of wire in abandoned cars and how to strip it of its plastic coating. She sketched out other types of traps like deadfalls and fish traps to teach her students how to catch game and fish. All the students pored over her sketches as she talked. They all had the desire to be able to provide food for themselves and the group so they could survive long enough to get home.
Hunting bigger game would be more of a challenge because the group’s weapons were only handguns so they would have to be very close to an animal in order to take it down. She assured them it could be done but it would be more of a challenge. Everyone was more relaxed after the lesson and some of the girl’s set up a competition to see who could make the best snares.
The train started to decelerate again so April glanced out the windows to see where they were stopping this time. She was confused when she couldn’t see a town or lake anywhere close by and then alarmed when there was a rapid banging from the roof. Everyone was looking around to see what was happening but no one knew until the door separating their car with the next one in line was thrown open and Albert flew in and started to bellow.
“Everyone on the floor! The train is being attacked. Anyone with weapons, be ready to shoot anything that gets close to us. All our people are on the roofs and in between the cars so anybody out there is the enemy!” He pointed to the trees that grew on either side of the tracks before pulling open a compartment and removing a rifle.
There were close to thirty-five people in April’s car and at least twenty of them pulled weapons and divided between the two sides of the car. The rest moved to the center and crouched down on the floor. April’s heart was pounding in her chest as she turned from one side of the car to the other. She didn’t know what to do until Liam grabbed her arm and dragged her over to where he was crouched under a window. He pushed her down on the bench and thrust a box of bullets and a magazine at her.
“Hold these. When I hand you my empty one, give me the full one and then reload the empty.”
April was holding her own weapon in a trembling hand and asked him, “Shouldn’t I be up with you shooting?”
He shook his head. “There are plenty of shooters up already. Just keep your head down!” He had to yell the last word over the sound of gunfire that suddenly increased in volume.
April ducked down farther and scanned her friends that were bunched together on the floor. Their faces were white with terror. There was nothing she could do for them so she looked away and saw Mrs. Moore braced on the bench holding her gun with two steady hands while taking shots out the window. The sound in the passenger car was deafening. The roar of gunfire, glass shattering and screaming people made her squeeze her eyes closed and pray for it to be over and then it was. The gunfire tapered off as someone yelled to cease fire but the sounds of yelling and moans of pain still filled the car.
Liam dropped down beside her with a thump causing her to bounce a bit. She opened her eyes and looked up at his stunned face and glassy eyes. She put her hand down on the bench to lever herself up and felt a sticky wetness. Her brain saw the blood on her hand but it took a few seconds for her to really understand what that meant and then she was tearing at Liam’s clothes to find where it was coming from.
He weakly pushed away at her hands in confusion. April didn’t even realize she was yelling at him until he finally grabbed one of her hands tightly and met her eyes.
“What?”
“You’re bleeding! I have to find where you’re bleeding from!” she yelled at him and his forehead wrinkled in doubt.
“I’m fine! I don’t feel anything,” he tried to tell her but she held her bloody hand in front of his face and his hand immediately went to his side.
April zeroed in on the area and pulled his jacket and shirt up. Her breath came fast as the adrenaline kicked in. She couldn’t get a good look at the wound with all the blood so she whipped her sweater over her head and pressed it against the area. Liam leaned forward and craned his neck to try and see his back so April pulled his clothes up higher and saw that he was bleeding there as well. She wrapped the sweater around so it covered both sides of his wound and pushed him back against the bench so it would stay in place.
“Just hold that in place. I’ll get Cindy to help.”
Liam’s face was pale and he was shaking his head and mumbling, “I didn’t even feel it.”
She stood up on shaky legs and turned to find Cindy, but what she saw had her dropping beside Liam when her legs gave out from under her. The noises she’d blocked out when she was focused on Liam’s wound came rushing back in. Cindy was yelling desperately at Jessica to put pressure on something and others were calling out for bandages and water. Sobbing cries and painful moans filled the air.
The air reeked of gunpowder and blood and April’s mind threw up a filter so she could process what was happening around her. Cindy was bent over Emma giving mouth-to-mouth while Mrs. Moore did chest compressions. Jessica was holding a balled-up shirt against Megan’s blood-covered chest as she chanted, “Hold on, hold on.” Kara - Kara just laid on the floor staring up at the ceiling with dead empty eyes. There was a small hole in her forehead and a puddle of blood spread out underneath it. Jenny was wrapped around her stunned mother and sobbing uncontrollably as the older woman held out her hand towards
the carnage on the floor in a helpless gesture.
April turned her head in what felt like slow motion towards the other end of the passenger car. More wounded people were on the floor being tended to and Albert was passing through them with a bucket of water and a bundle of ripped up rags to be used as bandages. Liam’s hand grabbed hers bringing her attention back to him. He was looking at their friends on the floor with an expression of complete defeat on his face. She tracked his gaze and saw Mrs. Moore pull Cindy away from Emma and into her arms. Jessica was no longer holding the shirt against Megan’s chest but rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs.
April studied the faces of the three girls and saw that they were all gone, three more pieces of home uselessly stolen away. She continued to stare at her fallen friends until her view was blocked by Mrs. Moore kneeling down in front of Liam. She examined his wound and called Cindy over.
“This looks okay, Liam. The bullet went right through and it doesn’t look like it hit anything important. It’s just a little deeper than a graze.” She turned her grief-filled, weary face to April. “Are you okay, dear? Were you wounded?”
April just stared back blankly until she finally shook her head. She dropped her eyes down to her hands and the blood on them triggered something inside of her. She surged to her feet and rushed towards the door at the end of the car, stumbling over people and bodies until she made it to the stairs. She staggered down them and into the ditch beside the tracks where her stomach let go and hot ugly bile came gushing out. She stayed bent over heaving until nothing else came out and then stumbled away from the mess and climbed the ditch bank until she collapsed to her knees on the strip of land between the tracks and the trees.
Her chest was heaving with pent-up emotions and she found herself slamming her hands against the ground again and again while snarling.
“I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”
A branch snapped in the trees ahead of her but she didn’t even flinch or stop pounding as boots came in to her field of vision. She didn’t care if it was a bad guy. She just didn’t care.
“What do you hate?” came from above her and caused her to reel back and land on her butt. The man was in his mid-twenties and he was wearing a uniform like the one she’d seen other soldiers wearing that guarded the train. His face was flat and cold as he looked down on her and he readjusted the six mismatched rifles and shotguns he carried. The sight of the guns broke out her fury and she screamed at him.
“This world! I hate this world!”
His expression didn’t change but he gave a slight nod before saying, “Yeah, me too, but it’s the one we’ve got now so live in it or leave.” His cold words had her anger draining and she could only whisper, “I just want to go home.”
He looked down at her again as he started to step away.
“Home’s gone, kid. This is all that’s left.”
April knew he wasn’t talking about her actual home but of the world that used to be home and his cold words helped her more than any sympathy would have. The long guns clinked together as he took another step away and she yelled at him, “Hey, are those the guns from the people who attacked us?”
He turned back to her and nodded. “No point leaving them out here when they can be of use.”
She took a breath to steady her voice and squared her shoulders. “They shot four of my friends. Three of them are dead. I want three of those guns and any ammunition you found for them.”
His eyebrows shot up and his face changed from hard to amused before he shrugged and laid them down in the grass.
“Not exactly a fair trade but sure, you can have them.” He inspected each one and sorted out two hunting rifles and one shotgun. He laid them out in front of her and swung a pack off of his back. Inside were loose shells and boxes of different calibers of bullets. He made a pile of ammunition beside the guns he’d chosen for her and finally looked up into her eyes.
“Do you even know how to use these?”
April had her anger and grief pushed down so it just simmered under the surface but her biting sarcastic tone showed it was still there.
“Don’t worry, I’ll just Google it.” He huffed out a surprised laugh and she went on, “I know how to manage a handgun but not these so why don’t you give me some pointers?”
The soldier’s expression thawed out some more. “I guess you plan on living here after all, huh?”
April didn’t reply. She just picked up the shotgun and held it out. “How do I load this?”
Chapter Twenty
The sound of axes meeting wood rang out in the air as men worked to clear the tracks. The ambushers had cut down a huge tree and toppled it onto the tracks to stop the train. While they worked to clear it, others brought bodies and wounded out of the cars and laid them out beside the tracks in the grass. April and what was left of her group sat on the bank of the ditch in slumped misery. Cindy had Liam stretched out on his side as she carefully closed his bullet wound with stitches. He would hiss in a breath of pain every time the needle went through his flesh. They had nothing to numb the area so his only relief was to bite down on a stick to keep from yelling and screaming. Mrs. Hardsky and her daughter Jenny each held one of his hands in support. Mrs. Moore was still in the passenger car helping the men to clean up the now bloody, bullet-ridden carriage.
April’s eyes traced the line of bullet holes that showed from the outside where they had entered the car and she morbidly tried to guess which hole corresponded with the bullets that had taken her friend’s lives. She watched dully as the three bodies of her friends were brought down the steps and laid out in the row with the other people who had lost their lives to the ambush.
Mrs. Moore followed them down the steps and watched them lay the girls down before walking over to her remaining students. She stood across the ditch and just stared at them with an unrecognizable expression.
After a few minutes, Jessica asked, “Are you alright, Mrs. Moore?”
The teacher just slowly shook her head. Everyone’s attention was now on the usually unflappable older woman. She rubbed at her creased forehead before she started to speak.
“Twenty-four students, that’s what I started with on that day. Ten I sent out into the world alone and I have no idea what their fate is. I lost two more that day as we walked to the hotel. Never to be seen again. Ben just disappeared. I don’t know if he ran or if they killed him. Two more were lost to the lions that attacked us and now these three to bullets. Six left, not even a third of the students I was responsible for.” She met each one of their stares before saying, “I’m sorry. I have failed you all,” and then dropped her eyes to the ground.
The tally of loss being put so bluntly stunned the rest of the group. They each were forced to remember how much they had lost. Cindy and Susan were quietly weeping. Mrs. Hardsky had her daughter wrapped up in her arms. Liam just stared off down the tracks and April rested her head on her arms. Jessica stared at her teacher in disbelief before jumping to her feet and yelling.
“Are you kidding me? YOU didn’t fail us, this WORLD failed us! All our lives from birth, it taught us we can have anything we want with hardly any effort. It taught us how to shop online, how to talk to our friends through Facebook. That our parents would drive us anywhere we wanted to go or buy us whatever we needed. We could call the police if we needed help or go to a hospital if we were hurt. The world gave us no real skills! I can’t grow food or hunt to feed myself. I can barely pedal my bike because I never had to! I’m useless! The only reason I’m still alive is because of YOU. YOU taught me the basics and YOU got me this far so don’t you dare say that you failed! If you give up, then what kind of chance do any of us have?” She took a heaving breath to say more but it came out a sob and she collapsed back down onto the grass.
Mrs. Moore’s stunned face cracked in sadness for a heartbeat before it firmed up into determination once again and she strode straight to Jessica and gathered her into her arms.
/> “No, no, I won’t give up. I promise we’ll get home. We’ll do it together.” She looked around at the rest of the group over Jessica’s head until she received nods of agreement from each one of them.
They sat in the grass and watched the men and soldiers work for another hour after that. A large grave was dug and the bodies of the fallen were placed gently in it and covered. With no refrigeration, it was what had to be done to keep disease from spreading. The group said goodbye to their friends and then re-boarded the train. Buckets of water had been used to wash the floor of the blood of the fallen but there was no way to hide the evidence of what had happened. As the train started moving again and picked up speed, the wind whistled through the many bullet holes.
The train was now behind schedule by a few hours so it stopped for the night at the next station. Everyone was asked to leave the cars so that workers could inspect them and repair the damage done during the ambush. Mrs. Moore had her group take all of their belongings with them and they found an empty spot with overgrown grass near the platform to sit and sort through all the packs. With three students gone they had extra packs that they needed to empty and then spread out the supplies into the survivors’ bags. The teacher looked over the three guns that April had gotten from the soldier and patted her on the shoulder.
“That was very smart of you, dear. These will make hunting much easier when we start travelling by bike again.”
Mrs. Hardsky had cleared an area of grass by ripping it out in handfuls before setting up their small candle stove to make supper. She leaned back on her heels after setting a pot of water on it.
“I’m looking forward to cooking on a real fire. These stoves have worked but they take so long to heat the food on. A real campfire would be easier and faster and give us more options on what we can make.” Jan looked around at the students with a sad expression before saying to the teacher, “We’ll have three extras bikes when we get off tomorrow. Do you think we can trade them for more dry goods?”
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 76