Rise the Phoenix

by Ely Page

  “Whoa!” Porter exclaimed as he rushed to pull the brakes.

  “What is it?” Jenny asked.

  “Greg is slowing down. He must have spotted something or found a split in the track. I feel like I was following too close, but this old girl has some good brakes.”

  “I will hang out here. Go get Frank and have him come up this way,” Greg told Will as the train finally came to a complete stop right at the track switch.

  “What’s going on?” Ben asked Will as he met him halfway up the long train.

  “We stopped at a track switch and Greg wants Frank up front to figure out which way to go,” Will explained, walking quickly as he told Ben the news.

  Frank got out of the passenger car on his own but told everyone else on board to stay put, as the train might move again very shortly. He told Dave and Ollie to watch Reggie and to not let him anywhere near Anahel, Dylan, Emily, or Hanna.

  “Frank, Greg stopped at a track split,” Will said as soon as he saw the tribal leader walking his way.

  “Good, I am heading up there now.” Frank stopped at the locomotive and waved for Ben and Andy to come over to where he was. Porter and Jenny leaned out of the opening of the locomotive to hear what Frank was going to say.

  “OK, boys, this is what we are going to do. Whatever track Greg is going to take, we are going to spread out as far as we can while still in sight of each other, and the furthest out will give Greg the signal to stop after the one standing closest to the switch signals that our train has enough room to pass. OK?” Everyone got it. “Porter, stop at the switch so we all can board the train there and so one of us can throw the switch.”

  “Got it,” Porter said as Frank and the three young men headed up the track, walking through the thicker ash.

  Leah checked on Dylan. She thought that he had moved again, which was good sign, but she sensed there was more going on than that.

  “Leah,” said sweet voice from behind her. It was Emily with a big smile on her face. It was the first time Leah had seen Emily smile, and it for was a good reason. Anahel had woken up.

  “Here, Anahel, I have some water for you.” Leah gave her a glass and Anahel took a few small sips. “How are you feeling?” Leah asked, sounding happy and concerned at the same time.

  “I feel tired, but I am fine. Healing takes a lot out of me,” Anahel said. “I can tell by the way you are looking at me that you want to know how I did it.” Anahel smiled at Leah, who turned away when she started to blush. “It’s OK, I will tell you sometime, but now is not the time or the place. Maybe when we get to the new city.”

  “Here is a map of where I believe we are. I think we need to take this train off this line and have our train continue on the same line that it has been on.” Greg handed the map to Frank.

  Frank reviewed it then looked at the tracks. “I agree with your assessment, Greg. Why don’t you head up that track, and I will ride part of the way up and give you a signal when to stop.”

  Greg needed his head in acknowledgement, then he stopped with a disconcerting look on his face.

  “What is wrong?” Frank asked.

  “I just remembered that I shot a wild boar and I don’t know how we are going to get it on our train. There is nowhere to put it until we cook it.”

  Frank thought about it for a moment. “You are right, having some pork sounds fantastic, but it would not ride well in the passenger car, and there is no room in the locomotive. I appreciate that you are looking to feed everyone, but we have enough food for now.”

  Frank threw the switch and jumped up on the halfway point of the train. Andy and Ben climbed on as well, and Will stayed at the track split. The train started to move; Greg kept it slow so it would be easier to stop when Frank gave him the signal.

  Will signaled the waiting Ben when the last of the train cars went by him; Ben then signaled Andy, who was further up the track. Andy then signaled Frank, Frank managed to signal Greg, and the train slowed down and stopped shortly thereafter.

  Frank waited where he was standing until Greg met up with him; they walked together.

  “How are thing’s going in the passenger car? How is Dylan doing?” Greg asked.

  “Dylan is still out of it,” Frank said. “Hanna has woken up and feels OK. Anahel—”

  “Anahel?” Greg repeated, interrupting Frank. “How is Anahel doing? Is she OK?”

  Frank was slightly taken aback by Greg’s interested reaction, but he figured Greg was getting a little sweet on the newest member of the tribe. If only Greg knew that nothing could ever happen with her and that she wouldn’t always be with the tribe.

  “Anahel is fine,” he said. “She is just resting.”

  The train movers all made it back to the locomotive. Greg and Will took over for Porter while Ben, Andy, Porter, and Frank went back to the passenger car. They checked on Dylan to see if he had woken up yet.

  “Still nothing,” Leah said when they asked. She was sitting in the seat right across from Dylan so she could watch over him. Everyone took a seat as Greg fired up the locomotive and it started moving toward the setting bright spot in the gray sky. The day was coming to an end, and they were getting closer to home.

  Ben sat next to Hanna and they started to get into some deep talk. Leah watched them from a distance and felt a bit jealous; that was the way she and Dylan had talked until he started giving her the cold shoulder. Now they barely spoke to each other. She looked at Dylan laying there unconscious. She still didn’t know what had happened between them, but she wasn’t going to let it consume her.

  Andy and Becca, who had been dating since the day they met at Frank’s house, were leaning against each other in their seat, adding to Leah’s jealousy. Leah even noticed Porter and Jenny laughing at jokes they told each other. Leah thought that they may have been holding hands, but she couldn’t be sure without making it obvious that she was looking at them. Everyone was finding someone to connect with; everyone but her.

  Maybe, she thought to herself, I should find someone to get to know a little better. Someone to connect with. Someone other than Dylan.

  “Leah, could you come sit with me for a moment?” Anahel asked, snapping Leah out of her pity party. Leah walked toward Anahel’s seat. “Emily, could you give us a minute?”

  The little girl got up without speaking. Leah took her spot next to the scarred woman.

  “You seem down about something; may I ask what it is?” Anahel asked.

  Leah didn’t want to have this conversation with Anahel or anybody else for that matter. “Um, it is just what happened to Hanna and Dylan,” she started.

  “Dylan!” Anahel cut Leah off. “That is it, something is going on between you and him.” Anahel hadn’t phrased it as a question, and she smiled.

  “No, there is nothing going on between us. There never has been and there never will be!” Leah got up and left Anahel’s side feeling angry and embarrassed.

  Emily came back to sit by Anahel. “What happened?” she asked quietly.

  “Leah is having some personal problems that I am going to help her with when she comes back to me after cooling off.”

  Dylan decided that it was time to let everyone know that he was awake. The problem he was still having was that he did not want to talk to anyone about anything; he had a major headache. He sat up but nobody noticed at first. The car was barely lit, and most on the train had fallen asleep for the night.

  He saw Ben and Hanna sitting in the seat right in front of him. It was good to see that she was OK. Dylan tapped Ben on the shoulder.

  Ben turned his head around. “Dylan you’re awake!” he exclaimed.

  Dylan put his finger over his lips, implying that Ben should be quiet, but it was too late. The entire passenger car heard Ben shout, and they all came over to see Dylan. Everyone except Leah, that is. She stayed in her seat, looking only briefly a
t the back of Dylan’s head before she put her head back down on the rolled-up blanket she was using as a pillow.

  “Dylan, how are you feeling?”

  “How is the hero?”

  “Way to go, creature slayer.”

  Those were the comments everybody was making, but Dylan didn’t want to respond to any of them.

  “Leave him alone, he just woke up! And you all should be sleeping.” Frank came to save Dylan from the onslaught.

  Frank ushered the tribe back to their seats then sat down next to Dylan. “Here is some water and some aspirin,” he said.

  Dylan took the aspirin and put it down with the water. “Thanks,” he said, not even looking at Frank.

  “I am not going to ask. I know you probably won’t answer anyway.” Frank had an idea where Dylan’s head was. “I will just sit here and protect you from everyone’s questions, but do me one favor and look up.”

  Dylan didn’t know what Frank was getting at, but he did what Frank asked. Staring him right in the eyes was Hanna. She didn’t say a word; she didn’t have to. Just from the look in her eyes, Dylan read an entire book full of appreciation and gratitude.

  “I did what I had to do,” Dylan said, finally breaking his silence. The passenger car was quiet; nearly everyone was sleeping except Porter, who was taking his turn on guard, and Frank, who Dylan didn’t think had slept since Alice was taken.

  “What?” Frank asked, pretending that he’d just woken up.

  “I did what I had to do, but I don’t think I can do it again.” Dylan still would not look at Frank.

  “If you had time to think about it, you might not have done it in the first place. You don’t know what you will do or how you will react to a situation until you are in it.” Dylan remained silent, but Frank had more to say. “Give yourself some time, but not too much time. We just crossed into Oklahoma. We will be home in a few days.”

  The gray sky had brightened. The train stopped so everyone could get out and walk around. Frank, Greg, and Porter were looking at a track map, figuring out where they were going to go next. A problem arose when Frank mentioned that he still didn’t have an exact location.

  “I know where we need to go.” Anahel walked over to the men; Emily was by her side.

  “How do you know?” Porter asked.

  “Why do you think we were on the same track you were on when you found us?”

  The three men looked at each other.

  “OK, where?” Greg asked.

  “We stay on these tracks until we get past Oklahoma City, then we take the first set of tracks going southwest. When we get to Lawton, we have to travel west on foot on Base Line Road until we see the first town we come to. That will be our new home.”

  Porter and Greg’s jaws dropped. Frank smiled.

  “Sounds good to me,” he said. “I am going to get some coffee if there is any left.” Frank walked away. Porter soon followed, leaving Greg with Anahel and Emily.

  “You girls want to see the inside of the locomotive?”

  Emily perked right up. “Boy, do I!” She headed for the steps of the train.

  “Thanks for making her smile,” Anahel said with a smile of her own. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

  Greg went from smiling to stone-faced. “I had a daughter about her same age,” Greg said, then followed Emily up the steps. Anahel stayed back for a moment.

  Dylan stayed on the train when everyone else got off. Leah was the second to last to get off. Carrying some rations of food and coffee, she didn’t even look his way. The last person off was Reggie. When he walked by Dylan, he gave him an ominous look and refused to have his back to him as he went out.

  On the locomotive, Greg was showing Emily what the levers and gauges were for. He even let her blow the steam whistle. Emily was having a great time, and Greg was having a great time showing her everything. Anahel sat back and watched, taking great joy and comfort from seeing Emily connect with someone else.

  Frank looked over the tribe. He saw how they segregated themselves by age. Only natural, he thought. He was glad that Anahel knew exactly where they had to go. That was why Frank had stopped having visions; the answer was in her.

  Frank stopped Reggie by himself and decided that now was the time to straighten him out.

  “Anahel,” Leah called as she saw the woman stepping out of the locomotive.

  “Hello,” Anahel greeted Leah when she approached.

  “I want to apologize for the way I reacted earlier.” Leah was sincere; she knew that she had overreacted.

  “It’s OK, dear. Emotions can run very deep, and that seems to be a sensitive area for you.”

  The two ladies continued to walk side by side as they sought more privacy.

  “It’s just that things fell apart, and I don’t know why.”

  Anahel smiled but looked serious at the same time. “Relationships can be very confusing. Being in the situation that you are, it could be almost impossible for something to really come about.”

  “So, what should I do?”

  The girls stopped walking and faced each other.

  “Well,” Anahel said. “You need to be you and not worry about forcing anything to happen. I can tell you now that once you get to the new city, things will get much better for you, and you will have happiness with the one you love.”

  “Reggie,” Frank said as he approached the troubled man.

  “Yes, Frank,” Reggie said.

  Frank put his hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “We need to talk.”

  Dylan looked out the window and saw all the people talking, looking like they were all having fun. All except him. He felt sorry for himself even though he didn’t know why, and he didn’t think he was the reason for it. Dylan found Leah walking with Anahel. He wondered what they were talking about; it looked serious to him, and they stood away from the rest of the tribe. He doubted they were talking about him. They had no reason to.

  “Attention, everyone,” Frank shouted, standing at the top of the locomotive steps so everyone could hear. “I would like to inform you that we only have about three days left until we reach our new home.” Cheers came from the gathered tribe, as all of them where tired of slowly moving westward. “Let us pray for the rest of our journey to go smoothly.” Frank led the tribe in prayer; it seemed to be the only time the tribe did anything in unison.

  The train was loaded and ready to go long before the sky turned dark. The tribe had almost unanimously voted to get to the new city as fast as possible. Anahel and Emily rode with Greg on the locomotive, mostly because Anahel knew where to go, but also because Emily was fascinated by the locomotive and the stories Greg told her about all the things he had done in his life.

  Andy and Ben tried to talk with Dylan, but they quickly found out that he wasn’t in the mood for any kind of conversation. Ben went back to sitting with Hanna and Leah. Andy went back with Becca. Will sat by Cael, and they told each other about girls they used to know in their hometowns.

  Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Even Reggie had improved his paranoid attitude a little, and Dylan wasn’t in a bad mood, he just didn’t want to talk to anybody about anything, he felt like being alone until he sorted some things out in his head.

  Night had fallen. Everyone was asleep, except for Greg on the locomotive and Dylan. After sleeping for over a day, he didn’t feel like closing his eyes. The noise of the train wheels on the track was like music to Greg’s ears. Dylan just stared out the window, looking into the nothingness and feeling the void within him grow bigger.

  The next thing Dylan knew, he was standing on a field in the middle of nowhere holding a sword. As he looked around, the sky had gone from the clearest blue to the dirtiest red. The grass beneath his feet was covered with blood, and a low menacing laugh started to get louder. Dylan looked all around to see where the evil laugh was c
oming from, but he saw nothing. Then he realized it was him laughing. When he looked down to see a sword in his hand, it was covered in blood, then bodies appeared around him bearing fresh cuts and stabs. Those bodies were members of his tribe; he had killed them all, even Leah.

  Dylan woke up in a cold sweat he almost screamed but managed to keep his mouth shut. He did not like the dream he’d had at all. He used to talk to Frank about these things, and maybe he still should. Dylan thought it was strange that when he was unconscious after the creature attack, he couldn’t remember dreaming about anything—but the second he fell asleep for a few minutes afterward, he dreamed about slaughtering everyone he knew.

  The train made it to the outskirts of Oklahoma City just after daybreak. Anahel said that they had to go through the city on one of the main train lines before turning southwest. Greg stopped the train a few miles away from the city. Frank told everyone but Porter to stay in the passenger car until he gave the OK to come out.

  “What do you think, Frank?” Greg asked as he met up with Frank and Porter beside the tracks.

  It was a very cool day. The men could see their breath when they breathed. Nobody in the tribe could figure out the weather pattern. Some days it felt nice, some days were hot, and some days were cold.

  “Well, I would like to have someone go and get some more supplies.” Frank turned toward the city. “But Anahel did say we would have to travel on foot during the last stretch.”

  The three men stood and thought for a moment.

  “How about we get some short-term food supplies,” Porter broke the silence. “We only have scraps left basically. We should get a few more days’ worth.”

  “And how about some clothes,” Greg chimed in. “I have been wearing the same clothes since I showed up at your house. A fresh outfit would be nice.”

  Frank considered the men’s suggestions. “OK, let’s get some food and clothing, but we must be considerate of the walk we will have after we get off the train. Porter, assemble a team that you will lead.”

  With the meeting over, Greg moved the train into town until they found a mall in the near distance. There was a grocery store nearby. Those buildings would be the target for Porter and his team.