by Dalton Wolf
Flash!
Boom!
A bright light flashed. Thunder shook the chamber, sending hearts into throats and weakening already too weak bladders in several of the parents. The lights flickered and blanked out. The mural of Olympus glowed in the dark, but now something moved within the scene as well. The group oohed and aahed for the ceiling as well, finally viewing the galaxy lights performing the function they were designed to perform. The ceiling resembled a Hubble Extreme Deep Space Field Image of the stars, nebulae, planets and galaxies, each celestial phenomenon sparkled and shone, but did not spin or move about.
Athena whispered to Calvin, “It’s all controlled by a computer. I ordered the programs and supplies. When the lights went out, the big door rolled away and a screen rolled down while a projector turned on and lit up Mt. Olympus on the mural, also changing the formatting of the LED lighting in the ceiling. There’s also an actual Hubble Deep Field snapshot overlaying the ceiling above to increase the cosmic feel.”
He nodded and grimaced. “Thanks for ruining the mystery,” he chided her, hugging her waist with one arm while drinking a glass of tea with his free hand. The small glass contained regular black tea they had found in the cupboard, but Athena had added several healing herbs, honey and something that smelled of citrus. Whatever the blend, whenever he inhaled the steam a peaceful calm spread over his entire body, and it wasn’t just El Supremo blotting out his senses because he hadn’t smoked since the night before. His senses were dulled, however, by the Hydro-somethings he’d taken earlier to dull the incessant ache in his chest. The mind-altering effects of the strong painkillers made it impossible to resist being intrigued by Hef’s theatrics.
As the lights lowered, the flash-boom repeated and in the ensuing artificial midnight, the waiting group recognized the flash as a lightning bolt that originated from the spear held by Zeus and spider-webbed out into the universe above. The mighty grey-bearded Zeus turned his grey-maned head and shining silver eyes blinked, seeming to come alive. He flexed and turned his heavily muscled body and raised the spear above his head, pointing it at the mountainside. With a mighty shout of something the others assumed was Greek, mighty Zeus fired a lightning bolt into the small door in the mural. Another crack of bone-jarring thunder rattled their bones. A musical work of art that was surely born in the mind of John Williams himself boomed through some massive speakers hidden within the confines of the warehouse-like garage, blasting their senses from every angle. The light within the mountain was extinguished and the other gods and goddesses were surrounded with a silvery light and began moving about, before one by one flying off into the universe.
With the next thunderbolt, the mountainside shattered into cosmic dust and the entire mural disintegrated as a large vehicle thundered through the mountain, charging into the chamber with its massive engines rumbling in a very distinctive manner, six triple-air-horns drowning out the thunder.
The ceiling lights came up as the massive engine pulling four cars rolled past them slowly to the furthest point on the turntable. It had been driving very slowly so the flooring ahead could pull back, revealing the track. The video overlay and flickering lighting had combined to make it appear to burst into the room at full speed. Several of the people standing nearby had jumped out of the way and only now returned to goggle at the strange vehicle. Hef hit a button to turn off the horns, and the music shut off at the same time, leaving only the sound of twin 1,500 hp diesel engines rumbling and echoing from floor to ceiling and back again.
The pearl blue engine was a style none of them had seen before, smaller, but somehow more naturally ominous than a normal freight-hauler and with a longer nose than most modern trains with a cone low near the tracks that seemed designed for snow removal. The friends had spent a lot of time smoking weed and watching the rail yards switch, load and unload over the years and had traveled across the country to visit other rail yards, so they had seen a lot of engines. None had seen anything like this before.
“Huh.” Tripper exclaimed, opening Scaggs’ note. It read, It’s an armored train, dumbass. He leaned close to her ear so she could hear him and asked, “Now how’d you know this time? And how am I a dumbass for not knowing?”
“When we went around the building cleaning out the dead the other day, you and I were paired-up and the others were clearing the alley. You tripped on something. Don’t you remember what it was?” she asked incredulously.
“Um…oh yeah. It was a railroad track, but that thing hadn’t been used in years and went into the back of one of the warehouses…oh.”
“Right. They went right up to the back of this building, which would place the tracks entering the building on the other side of that door about a hundred feet away. The tracks would, and apparently do, lead right up to this turnaround.”
“Ok.” Tripper blurted. “But that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a train.”
“No, but I had a pretty good chance at being right. Plus I saw these moveable sections of flooring and figured they cover rails. This is a wheel house, remember?”
Tripper nodded his surrender and turned his attention to the incoming train.
Calvin realized this engine was probably one of those trains specially designed for running through the mountains in Europe or Asia. He had heard Hephaestus talk about them, but had never seen one.
“The entire outer shell is a special titanium alloy for which I alone hold the patent,” Hef explained. “It is the strongest metal currently in existence and only I know how to make it.”
The others studied the pearly-blue engine with appreciation, noting the additions of KC Royals, SKC and FCKC emblems that someone had painted beneath the engineer’s cabin.
“Damn,” Sergeant Doogard blurted, now highly impressed.
“Where’s the Arrowhead?” Trip asked, feeling insulted.
“On the caboose,” Hef told him.
The last car had been painted a deep crimson and there were several different styles of KC Chiefs emblems painted over it.
“Guess Rufus won’t be shooting that one with a missile,” Trip noted casually.
“The studio wanted it to be painted black, but we thought we would do proper honor to the day this began, and to all of those fans we lost at the parade.”
“There are T-Bones and Mavericks and some other area teams on the other cars,” Quinn explained. “All four cars are armored with the same material as the engine. It’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Hephaestus explained this further, “I was able to drop the weight by two-thirds by reproducing all of the parts in my alloy on a 3-D printer.”
“No way!” Joel exclaimed. “You got that printer built?”
“Yes. It is in the back of the production room there,” Hef pointed through the large doorway through which the train had just entered. “It can produce nearly anything we can design. I put that little test model I showed you in my workshop, over there in the third car just off the car carrier.”
“Awesome! So we can finally play with it?”
“It is not a toy,” Hephaestus insisted with a haughty sniff, but there was a light beaming from the corners of his beady black eyes.
“Yes, it is. That would totally be a toy I would play with,” Scaggs jumped in. “I’d print the One Ring in my size, with the letters in a metal that would really glow if put in a fireplace.”
Hef sighed in exasperation. “It is only able to utilize one metal at this time, but you could design the recess of the etched letters into the ring schematic and any metal smith worth his weight in ore could fill the etching in with the second metal later.”
“Yeah, right, whatever. One Ring. Dibs,” she wiggled her ring finger at them.
“I’d print miniature metal replicas of the greatest military vehicles, ships and aircraft with actual moving parts,” Tripper practically sang.
“I’d love to have the ability to make any item I need to fix something by uploading a picture and giving it a little tw
eak,” Calvin noted.
“Can we not return to this vehicle?” Hephaestus seemed close to losing his cool for the first time in a very long time.
“Sorry. Continue, Hephaestus,” Calvin waved him on.
“There are two turrets on the roof of the engine, front and rear, and one on each side. Each of the other cars has one turret on top. Each turret has ten-thousand rounds of ammo—”
“—you mean nails,” Tripper corrected.
“In this case, it is ammo,” Hef continued unfazed.
“Whatever,” Tripper shrugged.
“Each nail turret has four barrels, each two feet longer than the Hedgehog’s for more accuracy at longer range, and each with its own feed belt. And you can shut off the outer barrels for normal action. I would only use all four for large crowd control.”
“How did you design and build this so fast?” Captain Batmouche’ asked.
“It was already being built,” Hef explained. “Nearly complete, actually. It took nine months to redesign this particular train. It is the only one like it in the entire world.”
“He builds things for movie studios,” Calvin explained. “He was building this for an apocalypse movie to be named later, like our Hedgehog over there.”
“Oh, I see. Impressive,” she nodded, finally impressed by something other than his smooth, tan skin and bright smile.
“Speaking of names…” Tripper put his finger on his chin.
“I already have a name, thank you,” Hef told him haughtily.
“I mean for the train.”
“I know what you meant. I already have one; Twilight Dragon.”
“Nice,” Trip and Scaggs said simultaneously.
“But if I may continue…” he paused. Several of the others nodded, so he did.
“Other than the turrets, each car has ports down below through which you can fire a rifle. The caboose is our toy hauler and has a turret that can be fired using a remote and monitor because there was not enough room to fit a full cupola and our oversized vehicles in there together. It is mounted directly to the top, not set inside the train.”
“But, it’s a train,” Tripper mumbled in disappointment.
“Yes. It is, Tripper. I thought you would like to ride a train out of here.”
“But in a train we’re stuck only going where the tracks go.”
Hephaestus and Calvin laughed together.
“This is true for a normal train, yes. But we will have other options. That is one reason we are taking the other vehicles. We will also take my van. It has one turret, but is not so heavily armored. It will work as a troop hauler. The civilians should always ride in the armored vehicles.”
“Absolutely,” Calvin agreed emphatically.
“But what about these other options you’re talking about?” Tripper asked.
“They are a surprise,” Hef threw him a bright ivory smile, offering nothing further.
“I am sure you are all in a hurry to leave Kansas City for now, so we should finish loading. The sleeper is car one. It is four people to a cabin, except for my own quarters and that of Calvin and Athena.”
“What?” Tripper, Joel and Gus exclaimed together.
“There will be leftover rooms. I will allow you to decide who sleeps where, but this is why I told you all to keep your personal things with you. You can stow them in your bunkroom when you pick it out.”
“Why do you and Calvin get the big rooms?” Tripper asked with a challenge.
“It is Calvin and Athena. Athena runs my company and Calvin is the leader of this group. I get one because I designed and built this vehicle. If you do not like the arrangements, you can always follow in your own car,” Hef suggested.
“Fair enough,” Tripper conceded meekly.
“What car is which?” Calvin asked.
“The first is the sleeper. I am sorry it is so close to the engine, but that is the only way to ensure it is the best protected car. The second car is the kitchen, dining room, radio room, storage and meeting room. There is a smaller room in the sleeper just off of the engine for quick meetings, but most of the time the dining room will serve for this. The third car is my workshop and parts storage as well as all other supplies. The fourth, the caboose, is the car carrier.”
“Let’s get to work. Show us what to do,” Calvin clapped his hands and rubbed them together.
Hef showed them how to open the doors. Each rail car opened in the rear and on the side in draw-bridge fashion. The rail cars were nearly four inches wider than standard rail cars. Hef drove his van into the last car first, then Quinn pulled in the Paddy Wagon and finally Felicia drove the Hedgehog up the ramp. All three fit within the garage end to end with space for even the massive Quinn to walk by on the driver’s side, and most of the others could easily fit on the right.
“Just like my garage,” Tripper noted casually.
“We can park them all the way to the right if we find we need more space for people or additional storage,” Hef notified them, wondering if anyone was still listening. One glance around told him they probably weren’t.
Saul Rosenthal and Ben Grissom were deep in ‘discussion’ about who was going to get the left side of their bunkhouse and just who needed to be closer to the bathroom and why. Athena, Sarah and their mothers had disappeared into the kitchen car along with Mr. McClintock to see what they had to work with. Mr. McClintock was quite an outdoor chef himself and with all of them working together most of the family gatherings of the past had been more like wedding feasts or banquets rather than pool parties and the like.
Alex and the Worm were guided to a room with a DVD player and gaming systems and a divider between their beds so they could each have their own sub-room. The soldiers were getting acquainted with the air guns, asking questions of Quinn who had already studied the blueprints and tested all of the equipment with Hephaestus. The others spent their time putting away their personal belongings and searching for specific marked boxes and containers that the two smiths had put away earlier. When their stuff was stowed, the excited extended family began trickling back to where Hef watched with a look somewhere between pride and love.
“By the way, that was a nice reveal, too,” Calvin patted his friend on the shoulder.
“It was to be a big thing for the movie people,” Hef said in a voice tinged with regret. “I spent fifteen thousand dollars to get that door and floor to roll away unnoticed.”
“Fifteen thousand?” Calvin asked.
“Well, that is only on the floor, the exploding wall and the lighting, plus some videos that were going to play right before all of that. But the rest was not fitting for this gathering. I am glad I was still able to get some use out of it. I will still get the fifteen thousand, though,” he grinned. “Insurance.”
“That’s assuming there are any Insurance companies after this is all over,” Athena informed him astutely.
“Oh, right,” he appeared momentarily crestfallen, as if recouping the loss of only fifteen thousand meant that much to him.
“Fifteen thousand?” Tripper spat. “He just throws fifteen thousand away but when I ask for a loan he wants me to sign paperwork.”
“That is because I know I can trust the movie company to pay me back.”
Scaggs and Felicia both doubled over with laughter. “Not when you’re working for the independents,” Scaggs informed him, gripping her side.
“I always get paid,” he insisted. “I have solid contracts. I know because my brilliant Chief Administrator hired the best contract lawyer in the Midwest to write them up for me.”
“Thank you,” Athena beamed at him. “Of course, I have it in a contract that he has to say that,” she admitted with a wink.
“My lawyer tells me to always read everything,” he lamented. “I did not know that meant on our contract as well.”
“One of life’s hard-learned lessons,” she smiled nastily.
Eventually they had everything loaded and they were all chatting animatedly on the
train, with Calvin and Hephaestus going through checklists and Sarah and Athena double-checking the lists and the checks.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Calvin ultimately announced.
While the parents, Megan, Mo and the children were all still putting their belongings away in their bunk rooms, the ‘adventure party’ and soldiers gathered in the surprisingly spacious engine room and the adjoining meeting room at the front of the sleeper car. A small, eight-inch-wide metal walkway ran around the outer edge of the engine room at about chest height. The walkway was firmly suspended from the ceiling by one inch rods bolted to the roof and hangers affixing it to the side walls of engine. Joel, Scaggs, Gus and Felicia sat up in the turret walkway looking down on the others, legs dangling between the hangers as they read and re-read the manual for the turrets and listened to those below excitedly talking about their impending escape.
Calvin smiled up at his friends, glad both Joel and Gus had found someone to spend the end of the world with.
“Is everyone accounted for?” Hephaestus asked him.
“Yes.”
“Is everything on board?”
“Yes.”
“Did we do all we needed to do?”
Calvin hesitated. “Maybe not, but we did everything we can do for now. Maybe we can come back some time and clean it out, maybe help fix this city back up. Yeah, maybe we’ll even beat this thing. But for now, we’re doing the only thing we can do.”
“Not really. We are going to Kansas. Our shelter is in southern Missouri.”
“Do you think it’s more vital to get to safety or to get Doc to his labs?”
“The doctor’s business is likely the most important mission,” Hef admitted easily. “But I am not arguing that. All I said is that we do not have to do it. We are choosing to do this. And that is the difference.”
“You think it’s a mistake?” Calvin asked.
“Calvin. I have known you for a very long time now. I have not known you to make many mistakes. The reason for this is because you take longer to make decisions than others. Not because you are stupid, but because you are more careful and patient.”