Last Train to Pangea: Death by Dinosaur

by Robert Turnbull

  “That isn’t very impressive.” One owner muttered.

  She handed the roll to Mary “Would you go and change into this?” she looked sadly at the rolled hide “I made it for me when I grew up…” she sighed “…but now it looks like that’s going to be a few decades.” She grinned as Mary vanished into the fitting room.

  About five minutes later Mary appeared in a shimmering, iridescent, black knee length dress that hugged every curve and showed Mary’s rather ample cleavage.

  The rest of the women were stunned. Cassy giggled softly…

  “Well, I hoped that at some point in time I’d develop some breasts.” The rest of the girls laughed as Mary did a slow turn.

  “My God Cassy, you did this?” Missy muttered shocked at the detail and the fact that this dress was made from leather, but flowed as if made from a much softer material.

  Mary stopped her spin and looked at Cassy.

  “My God Cassy, this is soooo comfortable.”

  The shop owners looked at each other and the older of the two beamed.

  “Seven.”

  The other smiled back “Most definitely a seven…” she paused “I don’t suppose that you know how to tan the sinew of a raptor?”

  “Oh that’s much easier than making leather for a dress.” she smiled at the women “I’m guessing that you want to make rope?” She pointed to a large coil of rope hanging on the wall.

  “Rope?” Missy asked.

  “It is like something called nylon rope, but the professor said it was much stronger.” She pulled down a strange looking coil of rope.

  Cassy laughed “Oh you braided it wrong, the old man showed me how to triple braid it. But you have to tan the hide properly first so it isn’t so stiff.”

  From that point in time the sixteen year old lass had become the bread winner for the group as Missy had more or less taken her in so Red and Mary could take a room together in what was more like a multi-person condo; one structure, four large apartments and so far Cassy and Red were the only ones to have a jobs.

  Missy smiled at Cassy “Well looks like you and Red will be supporting us for a while, honey.”

  “Fine with me.” she chuckled “Think Wes will listen to my rules?” she joked as Missy shook her head no and giggled softly “Thought not.”

  Of course Cassy was no stranger as to what went on in the bedroom of Wes and Missy, but as she watched Mary walk around in her dress…

  “Mary?” Cassy laid her hand on Mary’s arm “I want you to have that dress, now I have this job, I can make more as soon as someone brings in some raptor hides.” Mary was stunned and hugged her until her back popped before letting her go. As she released Cassy, the lass giggled again and pointed to Mary’s feet.

  “I would think it would be a good idea to rid yourself of those.”

  Mary looked down to see her old boots that were made for walking in the prairies. They were battered and ripped, and so badly scuffed it looked as if she had been dragged over stones.

  “Here!” the owner handed Mary a pair of nice looking and functional high heels fitting for the turn of the twentieth century…from the nineteenth century. Mary tired not to chuckle at the outdated heels, but as they were better than anything she owned, she gratefully accepted.

  Red burst through the door “Train will be ready tomorrow and we can…” his jaw dropped as Mary turned to face him. She reached up and pulled her hair out of the ponytail she had it in and as it cascaded about her soft shoulders, Red could do nothing but sputter.

  “You…you…are…WOW!”

  Mary winked at Missy, grasped Red’s hand and out the door she hurried him along. Cassy laughed raucously “That dress is going to see more action in one night than I will for the next few years.” She sighed, but she remembered her little talk with Missy and Wes. In their eyes she was a middle age teenager with an early teen body, however she saw a woman when she looked in the mirror. But as they explained to her rape wasn’t love, wasn’t marriage, and sure as hell wasn’t going to happen while they were being her parents…Cassy loved them for it. They had been the closest thing to parents since she had arrived in Pangea, even though Missy was more the age of a much older sister, and nearly eight years younger than Wes.

  Sure the old man had been great to her, but he looked to her as a student that worked off her education by keeping his cave and cooking.

  Now Cassy had found someone that loved her as she was, and in return not just loved them back, but agreed to live by their rules, and the rules that she had been raised by as a child by her real parents. She was truly happy since finding Wes’s group…and Missy and Wes.

  The twenty-two year old Cord greeted Missy and Cassy as he returned from the local hospital and told them he got the medical supplies he needed for their trip west. He was also offered a job as a male nurse at a level six.

  Missy started to tell him about Cassy and her new job, but Cassy stopped her from telling him that she was also rated a six.

  Puzzled at the fact that a dressmaker and tanner would rank the same as someone in the medical field puzzled Missy, but she agreed to let Cassy tell him later in private in case he was embarrassed that a sixteen year old was rating as much as he was. Missy thought it was so sweet that Cassy was considerate enough to spare Cord’s feelings. Her thoughts were broken by Wes waving from outside the windows.

  Wes waved again and quickly entered to join them.

  “Great news guys, Red’s going to head the entire railroad system. While he was moving things around Proff came to the engine and rode with him and gave him the news. While happy to hear, Red knew Proff just wanted to ride in the steam engine.

  “Oh Wes, that’s wonderful.” Missy shouted as she glanced over to her love.

  “Sorry baby…that’s what I was coming to tell you,” he grinned from ear to ear “until I saw Mary in that dress.”

  Wes continued “They’ve unhooked the cars and now we have a train consisting of the engine, gondola, four of their wide flatcars, the passenger car that will hold the extra troops, and the caboose.” he grinned “And the caboose and gondola are going to have rotating, protected cages that have rawhide covers to protect the guards from the flappers and sun.” he chuckled “Looks like we have us a supply train.”

  “That’s great honey.” Missy slid her arm into his as they walked four abreast as she told them about Cassy and Cord’s new job offers and both said they’d take them once they got back from this one last trip through dinosaur country.

  “Over my dead body!” Wes sputtered “Young lady, you have a job and…” he watched her lip curl and tears form in her eyes…and sighed deeply.

  “…you can start it as soon as we get back.” Cassy threw her arms around Wes’s neck and hugged him. He hugged her back and lowered her back to the flat stone sidewalk.

  “AND THEN, you’ll go to work…and school.” he smiled “Someone has to support me…it appears my girlfriend isn’t.” and got an elbow for his pitiful comedic attempt.

  Cassy smiled and she clasped his hand as Red and Mary dropped back a ways to be alone.

  “Did Red say what rate he’d be?”

  Wes rolled his eyes “Yeah, that lucky bastard is an eight, or about an eight and a half. I heard the Proff and the General of the Army are the highest job numbers at ten.”

  “Oh and I thought my six was great.” Cassy sputtered with a laugh, and then coughed as she realized that she had let the cat out of the bag.

  “Make’s my six a sorry excuse of a job doesn’t it?” he sighed “Wish I would have finished med school…I could have been a seven.” Cord muttered and he looked at Cassy and stuck his tongue out like a little boy...to which Cassy give a silly girlish giggle as Cord asked Wes…

  “So boss, you find a job yet?”

  “Yeah kinda,” he sheepishly muttered under his breath “not quite sure if I want to take it or not. Sort of embarrassing in some ways.”

  Missy laid her head on his arm as they walked along.
<
br />   “Oh baby, don’t worry about your rating, I’m sure it will be raised at some point, or you can find a better one. What was it?”

  Wes put his arm around Missy’s waist “Aw, the professor wants me to be his advisor and second in command of Boulder’s army.”

  Everyone came to a sudden stop and looked at Wes. Missy beamed from ear to ear.

  “Why that’s great!” her grin changed to a frown “And this is embarrassing because?”

  “Because I’m a newcomer here, because Proff has never had an advisor, and as second in command of the army I’m sure there are going to be some hard feelings among the ranking officers.”

  Cord nodded “Yup, can see that part. By the way, did they give you a rating?”

  Wes nodded “Nine.”

  Chapter 26.

  Two days later the train was loaded with trade goods and supplies for the Sioux settlement that was half the size of Boulder. Proff had told Wes, it was that Sioux settlement that protected the way through the cliffs to the entire Indian settlements to the south and in and around the vast waters of what they called the coast.

  “As I mentioned, someday in a hundred million years or so, I think that’ll become the Grand Canyon, but for now there is a large settlement there and hundreds more living on the hundreds of water bound mesas that dot the coast.”

  Wes nodded “Don’t worry Proff we’ll get through. Red said we can get rolling along with the train loaded like it is to about thirty or forty miles an hour. Too fast for Neos to run alongside. Too steady for raptors to keep up to…hell even the big dinos can’t run beside us for long.” he chuckled softly “Not to mention with Sarge and Cassy riding in the turrets, and the surprises that Snake and Luke cooked up, we’ll get through.”

  Proff gave Wes a smile “I sure hope so Wes.” He slapped him on the back as they walked toward Proff’s door “Well, you have the men and the train and I’m sending Kurt along he knows the territory. Just come on back, I want to know all about your time and we’ve just not had the time to talk.”

  “Gotcha Proff, see ya in a few weeks.”

  “Few weeks? You’re going all the way down to the other villages?” Proff asked “That wasn’t the plan? The rails only go a little south of the northern most city.”

  “Well Red was told the tracks go all the way to the southernmost and then around to the west to the last two settlements, someone is wrong. If the rails have gone further south, we can run more supplies back and forth in a week than they can by wagon in a month.” he chuckled “Of course we’ll have to travel backwards as there is no turn around.”

  Proff nodded “After they see what you can do, I’ll bet there will be tracks the next time. They have a lot of extra track and ties and put us to shame on work ethics. As long as there isn’t any damage between Boulder and the pass, you should be ok.”

  “Damage?” Wes asked in an unsettling tone.

  “Not dinosaurs. Sure there is an occasional dinosaur that trips over the track or damages it somehow, but mostly damage due to rockslide or earthquake.” Proff sighed “That area is presently unstable, so be careful.”

  “Roger that Proff…see ya in a few weeks.”

  “Farewell my friend.” Proff gave Wes a little wave and off he went to board the train.

  Red moved the throttle forward, the train moved along the six miles behind the wall and for once they got to see not just the northeast part of the city, but the other settlements and towns that spread out along and behind the safety of the wall. It was some of the beautiful country side on this side of the wall, it was what was on the other side that worries Red and Wes.

  What they saw wasn’t much as most was at a distance, but it gave them an idea of what had been accomplished in the few centuries Boulder had existed. As they approached the part of the wall, where they would have to go slightly north to head out into the ‘death zone’, as one old man had ranted about back in the city of Boulder, they could see the portcullis opening as they approached. Red looked over to his friend and chuckled.

  “Will have to remember not to be moving too fast when returning, that thing takes too long to raise.”

  “Would be bad to hit it and plug up the tunnel.” Wes replied.

  “Plug up the tunnel? What about my fuckin’ train?”

  Wes laughed “Yeah that too.” and got an elbow in the ribs from Missy. It was a tight fit in the cab with the two women along, but they insisted upon riding up front in the cab with their loves. As it turned out they were incredible about helping load wood to Wes to throw into the engine’s firebox and never complained. Now with a full head of steam the engine was about to leave on their unknown journey.

  Wes was amazed that the train actually fit through the tunnel out through the western entrance and as they were waved through, noticed the sides of the top had wide metal ducts that led up to the top of the wall and wind mills to drive the fans that sucked out the smoke. Red chuckled as he wondered at the new design.

  “Now we won’t suffocate going through the tunnels, nor have to be pulled through. It’s amazing how fast the engineers come up with stuff now they have something to work towards.”

  Pointing to the huge wooden timbers that held it all in place Mary muttered “If the sparks don’t set it on fire first.” the sweat soaked redhead smiled as the cab went dark in the non-lighted tunnel. The engine was nearly deafening as it chugged through the tunnel but soon they were out and Mary smiled at her lover.

  “Ok if it’s smoldering, it’s Boulder’s problem now.” She turned to look out the window and her jaw dropped at the spectacular scenery.

  To their south were the sheer cliffs that dropped hundreds of feet to the lower plains and they could see Boulder’s peninsula as it disappeared to the south. The savanna below would soon rise back up to meet the ground level they were on and would stay the same all the way to the range of moderately high cliffs Proff had described, and the pass through them to the Indian lands.

  To the north were spectacular plains of grass and gently rolling hills with an occasional herd of various dinosaurs. Triceratops, brachiosaurus, roamed seeming without a care as smaller creatures darted among the tall grasses. In the distance smaller versions of flappers could be seen as Kurt warned them in larger numbers they were as deadly as the big ones.

  Now and then one of the ‘pigeons’ could be seen veering away from the tracks as they saw the train, and then veered back behind the train. Kurt explained they followed the tracks mostly.

  Missy looked down at her hands “Ewwww…” she muttered as she showed them to Wes. There was a tacky, smelly powder on them.

  Red laughed “You mean your honey forgot to tell you about stinker dust?”

  Missy passed Wes another log and a frown; Wes chuckled.

  “I’m sorry baby. It was basically Cassy’s idea. She asked Cord and Kurt if stinker grease burned. Kurt told her it does, but not well, but mentioned that once it’s processed into a powder for the ‘cloud shells’ for their catapults on the walls…and the wagon’s pottery grenades. She asked, ‘then why not burn it?”

  “OK, let me go along with my sister.” Mary chuckled “And…?”

  Kurt shouted down from his perch on the front of the gondola.

  “We have, but it leaves a long lasting residue…lasts for months. We tried using it around the wall, but the winds just are too unreliable and it would have to be put down on a steady basis.” he smiled “Just wasn’t predictable as to where it would go and coverage was spotty.” he chuckled “Or blew back over the walls into the city…the residents were not happy.”

  “So why the wood?” Mary asked as she clapped her hand together to find the tacky powder didn’t dust off.

  “That part was part Cord’s idea.” Red shouted back to the girls as they finally could take a break from being the train’s firemen. They all sat on the hard floor for a break as Wes continued.

  “Cord got Kurt to burn some wood they soaked in a solution of dust and water. The wood are t
he kinds we’d used on the train. Sure enough, the ash and cinders all contained particles of the dust and luckily at Kurt’s suggestion, they did the experiment away from the city. As the wood burned, wherever the wind blew it left particles, just like had happened before.

  “So the same results?” Mary asked.

  “Exactly!” Wes added “And that made Cassy’s idea workable. You see this train is going to be making this trip every few weeks if it works out. If the train burns this stuff it leaves a residue around whichever way the wind blows…”

  Red grinned an impish grin “And you can see how the smoke we produce goes up and behind the train mostly before coming back down.”

  Wes nodded “…and as there are usually only gentle or non-existent breezes, or so I was told.”

  Missy smiled “Then it will eventually cover this entire track area on both sides and keep the predators away because it lasts for weeks. Wow, smart!”

  “Weeks, hell…almost a month.” Kurt shouted down from above their heads “If Red’s train can keep running, then at some point every square inch for maybe a half mile or so in all directions of this rail will be covered in this stuff.”

  Mary sniffed her hands and even over the ‘scent’ they had put under their noses, she nearly gagged “Seems to work on humans as well. Shame it doesn’t seem to work on Neos.”

  Kurt laughed as he did a quick check on Sarge who was encased in his covered turret covering the front of the train from the rear of the gondola. He stood and balanced on the cab’s stairs as he looked back to see Cassy and her Sharps in the turret on the caboose. He sat back down and shouted to Red and Wes.

  “Final count; fourteen men in the passenger car and their gear, another six packed into the caboose and four each on every one of the six wagons. We have two wagons following the gondola, one boxcar, two more wagons, passenger car, and then two more wagons, and caboose.” He looked strangely at Wes “Which reminds me…are you two ever going to open that second boxcar?”