“You got it! Just be careful! Those Steampunks are dangerous! The freaks in that Jeep are causing problems for our gang! I can’t imagine what it would be like to face a train full of them!” the driver shouted.
They moved closer to the train and Nicklaus carefully stood up. He found an appropriate spot, and leaped on a ladder that was located behind one of the passenger cars. Nicklaus stepped on a narrow platform and opened the train car’s door. Upon entering the locomotive, the villain aimed his dart gun at various passengers.
“Don’t move! I’ll shoot anyone who gets out of their seats!” he threatened.
Based on the mayhem they saw earlier, the passengers chose not to antagonize Nicklaus.
In another section of the train, Flynn fled from the first passenger car. Along the way, he encountered one of the bandits.
“Where are you going? Nobody is allowed to leave!” the terrorist growled.
Flynn shot back, “Screw you! I’m sick of thugs like you bossing us around! Steampunks were created to stand up against people like you! I’m getting off this train alive!”
He tackled the bandit, overpowering his opponent.
“You can’t beat all of us!” the thug declared.
Flynn pulled a handkerchief out of his coat pocket. “Maybe not, but I can get rid of you!”
He stuffed the handkerchief down the bandit’s throat. Flynn covered the terrorist’s nose and tried to suffocate him. The bandit flailed his arms in the air as he struggled to breath. Eventually, the villain stopped breathing. For a moment, the Steampunk felt triumphant.
Nicklaus entered the car and quickly noticed his dead companion on the floor. He pointed his gun at Flynn. “What have you done? You’re going to pay for killing one of my buddies!”
He promptly shot Flynn’s neck. As a result, the poison quickly stopped Flynn’s heart and he slumped to the floor.
Dusty and Percy finally reached the last passenger car.
“This is the right place. We’re getting off this train and going to my headquarters,” Dusty said as he opened the door.
Percy didn’t appreciate the bandit leader’s mysterious behavior. “What headquarters? I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“You’ll find out when we get there. Right now, we need to be in a much safer place before I reveal more details,” Dusty replied.
Percy noticed that a pickup truck hurried alongside the train, ready to take them away.
“Do whatever you want, but the authorities will catch you in the end. They might kill you. Steampunk law tends to be brutal,” Percy warned.
Dusty wasn’t fazed by his captive’s words. “Look around you. The entire world is brutal. If I die in a hail of gunfire, that’s fine with me. Who wants to live for decades in a dystopian society? Just get in the truck and shut up!”
The bandit leader pushed Percy into the truck’s bed. Dusty jumped on the truck and then his driver steered away from the train.
Meanwhile, Giles ran through the train while he tried to find members of the Nelson family. He encountered one of the bandits along the way.
The thug whipped out his dart gun and threatened the passengers who cowered in their seats. “One of your Steampunk friends is trying to be hero! He’s a dead man!”
Giles hid behind one the seats as the bandit fired poisonous darts at him. The rest of the passengers ducked on the floor.
“Why are you attacking this train?” Giles asked, pulling out his own gun.
“That’s none of your business! I’m not going to reveal our plans!” the assailant hollered.
“Fine! You don’t have to tell me anything!” Giles yelled.
He took a deep breath and stepped into the aisle, firing his gun at the bandit. One of the bullets struck the villain’s right shoulder. He dropped the dart gun and grabbed his wounded shoulder.
The bandit winced in pain and cowered in the corner. “I can’t believe you were able to shoot me so easily! You must have really good aim!”
Giles hurried to the dart gun, picked it up, and then he tossed it through an open window.
“I can tell you’re not grafted with metal. Steampunks and other enhanced humans develop better aim,” Giles stated.
The bandit felt trapped. “Don’t kill me. I don’t know Dusty’s plan. He didn’t tell me anything.”
“Dusty must be your leader. Where is he?” Giles inquired, as he loomed over the thug.
“I assume he’s hitching a ride on an escape vehicle. Dusty is quick and ruthless. He won’t waste time messing around on this train. The rest of us are waiting for his directions. That’s why we have these earpieces,” the bandit confessed.
Giles kept his gun handy. “Your leader is very mysterious for a bandit. Well, I’ll figure out his plot eventually.”
He opened the door and proceeded forward to the next passenger car.
Beauregard and Malcolm continued to dodge enemies as they drove across the prairie, continuing to follow the train. A bandit in another Jeep aimed his gun at them and fired. The darts missed them when Beauregard maneuvered the vehicle in a sharp curve.
“You’re turning into a pretty good driver! Make sure you keep us alive!” Malcolm declared.
Beauregard countered with, “You’re the one who can shoot the bandits! Make yourself useful and pump some lead into their vehicles!”
Malcolm looked toward the back and pointed his shotgun at the other Jeep. “My pleasure! These guys will make good target practice!”
He fired a round at the bandits and missed. Malcolm emptied the chamber, reloaded, and fired again. This time, the bullet knocked out one of the Jeep’s headlights. He fired a few more rounds, but the bullets only gave the vehicle superficial damage.
“I thought your aim would be better at this point!” Beauregard complained.
Malcolm protested, “The Jeep is grafted! I hate this type of situation! The bandits don’t want to become part of our culture, but they’ll gladly use our weapons and transportation against us!”
Their opponent put his gun away and pulled out a lasso. He swung the lasso through the air and tossed it at the two Steampunks. Beauregard drove out of the way just in time, and the lasso accidentally snared a motorcycle bandit.
Malcolm laughed. “This is awesome! I want to see what happens to these guys!”
The cyclist couldn’t drive his vehicle. “What are you doing? I can’t believe you harnessed me instead of the Steampunks!”
“You’re the one who got in the way!” the bandit in the Jeep shouted.
He hurried past the motorcycle bandit while his lasso was still harnessed.
“Untie me before my motorcycle crashes into something!” the motorcyclist demanded.
The other bandit lost his temper. “Shut up and give back my lasso!”
The terrorist in the Jeep used his lasso to fling the motorcyclist through the air. The helpless thug screamed until he landed inside the train’s smokestack. It rumbled for a moment and then the steam shot him high in the air. The bandit shrieked, then he smacked on the ground with a horrible cracking noise.
Beauregard shook his head. “I think we just need to be patient! Eventually, these idiots may kill each other until all of them are dead!”
“I hope the Nelsons can wait that long! They’ve been trapped inside the train for a while! I haven’t heard anything from Reb or Giles! It makes me really worried!” Malcolm fretted.
The remaining bandits trailed Malcolm and Beauregard while they drove. It seemed like a perilous situation, but the two men didn’t want to abandon their friends.
Chapter 14
Parker rushed further back in the train and opened another door. He looked down and saw the metal railway. The passenger car was fastened with a metal coupler that was attached to the next car. Parker feared that he might fall onto the railroad tracks.
One of the bandits snuck up behind the boy and snatched him. “This isn’t a safe place for you! I don’t want a kid like you to mess up our plans!
Maybe I should throw you overboard!”
Parker flailed his legs in panic. “Put me down! I’m just trying to get out of here alive!”
Giles opened a door from the next passenger car and immediately saw the bandit apprehending Parker. “What are you doing? Let the boy go!”
“Who’s going to make me? You’re not close enough to intervene!” the bandit taunted.
Giles held up his gun. “I have excellent aim! Do you want to take a chance?”
The terrorist used Parker as a shield. “You won’t shoot at me while I’m holding this kid! He could become collateral damage!”
Giles was apprehensive to fire his weapon. “Sometimes, I just have to be a risk taker!”
Parker bit the bandit’s forearm. The thug cried out and dropped his captive. Parker landed on the floor and almost lost his balance. He ran past the bandit and headed deeper in the passenger car.
“You little brat! I’ll teach you a lesson for messing with me!” the terrorist roared as he whipped around.
The bandit lost his balance, and fell backward and down and onto the tracks below. As a result, the train promptly ran over the villain and splattered him across the ground. Parker screamed when he saw blood squirt in the air.
“Don’t worry about the bandit! Are you okay?” Giles yelled from the other car.
Parker nodded his head. “Yeah, we thought the bad guys were attacking us from the outside! Grandma told me to hide in the caboose!”
Giles put his gun in the holster. “That’s probably the safest place. I’ll jump across and get you.”
“What if you miss and die like that bandit?” Parker asked in a frightened tone.
“Steampunks are better jumpers than regular humans,” Giles calmly responded.
He leaped across the gap and reached the other passenger car. Giles picked up Parker and approached the edge.
Parker gripped Giles tightly. “Don’t drop me!”
“You’re going to be okay. This nightmare is going to be over soon. Ready?” Giles asked, trying to reassure the child.
“Sure. I just want to go home. At first, I didn’t want to go back to Dallas. Now, I can’t wait to get there,” Parker admitted.
“I don’t blame you. Here we go!” Giles said, before he jumped to the next passenger car.
Meanwhile, Nicklaus entered the front passenger car and spotted the remaining Nelson family.
Gable raised his arms in the air. “We’re not going to cause a problem for you. Those toxic darts are clever weapons. Just take whatever you want and leave.”
Nicklaus furrowed his eyebrows. “I recognize you guys. Aren’t you the Nelson family?”
“Yes, if you must know,” Savannah grumbled.
The bandit glanced at Gable’s wife. “You’re that pretty woman, Priscilla. I would recognize that lovely face anywhere.”
The southern belle was repulsed when Nicklaus sniffed her neck. “Gross! Mind your space!”
“Leave her alone! Be a real man and treat women with respect!” Gable barked.
Nicklaus grabbed Priscilla and pulled out his dart gun. “What does a pretty boy like you know about manhood? I can show Priscilla what a real man can accomplish. Maybe she would like to go home with me.”
Gable immediately stood up. “I won’t let you do anything to her!”
“Be careful, Gable. Those darts are lethal. In this case, we need to cooperate or they’ll kill us. One of us needs to survive for our children back home. Do you understand?” Priscilla explained.
Gable reluctantly agreed. “I was supposed to protect you. How did this happen?”
Priscilla tried to be brave. “I guess this is what happens when people live in a dystopian world.”
Nicklaus tossed Priscilla’s fan on the floor. “You’re a smart woman. Let’s get rid of this sharp fan. I don’t want you to retaliate against me. Come on. We’re going to hitch a ride on a getaway vehicle.”
He promptly led Priscilla away from the first passenger car. They trekked through the train until Nicklaus found a convenient location to exit the locomotive.
Priscilla griped at him, “You haven’t won anything!”
“Are you sure about that? Right now, you’re completely unarmed and I have plenty of toxic darts,” Nicklaus taunted.
“Enjoy your short-lived victory. Somebody is going to make you pay,” Priscilla threatened.
Nicklaus ignored her and summoned a getaway vehicle through his earpiece. “I need someone to pick me up near the fourth passenger car. Send a pickup truck. I have a hostage.”
One of the truck drivers answered, “On my way! Be prepared to jump aboard!”
Nicklaus opened the door as a pickup truck drove up alongside the train. He shoved Priscilla onto the truck’s bed, and then he also jumped into the speeding vehicle.
While Nicklaus planned his getaway, Reb had been scrambling across the train’s roof. One of the bandits, sitting in a Jeep’s passenger seat noticed her.
“It’s that crippled woman! I see her picture online all the time!” the thug mentioned to the Jeep’s driver.
“Get rid of her! That Steampunk has a reputation for bringing down rebellions! We don’t need her to stick around!” the other bandit ordered.
The terrorist in the passenger seat raised his gun and fired a few darts at Reb. She planted her baton on the roof and used it to perform an unusual cartwheel. The bandits were impressed her agility.
“How is that possible? She has really fast reflexes for someone with a bum leg!” the shooter commented.
Reb climbed down a ladder that led to one of the passenger cars. “Those guys will have to be a lot more accurate if they’re going to shoot me.”
She stepped on a platform and opened the door. A bandit immediately saw her when she entered the passenger car. Reb pulled the sword out of her baton, but she didn’t want to alarm the Steampunks who cowered in their seats.
The bandit aimed his gun at her. “Nice sword. Too bad it’s not going to make any difference.”
“You might be surprised,” Reb taunted.
He fired the dart gun, but she swiftly ducked. The dart missed her and then she quickly assaulted the bandit. Reb slashed her opponent’s face and his right thigh. The thug dropped his weapon when his knees buckled.
“No way! I can’t believe you were able to hurt me so fast!” the bandit complained, while he remained on the floor.
Reb held the blade against his neck. “Where are the Nelsons? Tell me the truth and I’ll let you live. Don’t pretend that you’ve never heard of my family before.”
The bandit felt defeated. “They’re in the front passenger car. It’s first class. How else do you think the Nelsons are going to travel?”
Reb crushed the dart gun with her grafted boot. “I should have known. Thanks for your cooperation.”
Back in the first passenger car, Savannah hugged Gable. “I know it looks bad, but we’re going to survive this ordeal.”
Gable tried to remain strong. “You don’t understand. I allowed those bandits to kidnap Dad and Priscilla. It’s disgraceful. I feel completely humiliated and helpless.”
“It’s ironic because we became Steampunks to avoid this type of situation. Right now, we just need to hang in there. Somehow, we’re all going to survive,” Savannah replied.
Chapter 15
Beauregard struggled to get away from their tormentors. “I’m getting really worn out!”
“Hang in there, Beau! I’m sure Reb and Giles will give us a signal soon!” Malcolm commented.
A bandit on an ATV drove behind their Jeep and swung a bolo overhead. He threw it at Beauregard and the weapon wrapped around his neck. The rocks smacked Beauregard’s face and broke his goggles.
“Dang it! I can’t see!” Beauregard panicked, as he almost lost control of the Jeep.
Malcolm grabbed the steering wheel and tried to prevent them from crashing. “Take your goggles off! I can’t steer this Jeep from the passenger seat!”
&nbs
p; Beauregard yanked off his goggles right as they almost tipped over. Both of the men used their bodyweight to stabilize the vehicle. Beauregard took the steering wheel again and regained control of the Jeep.
“Thanks! We almost got in big trouble for a moment!” Beauregard said in an exasperated tone.
Malcolm wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Don’t mention it! Reb and Giles need to hurry up! I don’t think this vehicle has unlimited fuel!”
Back on the train, Reb barged into the first passenger car.
Savannah was shocked to see her daughter. “Reb, what are you doing here?”
“Giles and I infiltrated the train. We saw the attack on the news. Where is everyone else?” Reb asked her mother.
“The bandits kidnapped Dad and Priscilla. I wanted to stop them, but their guns are loaded with toxic darts. They can kill a Steampunk instantly. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to Remy and his friends,” Gable explained.
Savannah touched Reb’s baton. “I told Parker to hide in the caboose. You, or Giles, need to make sure he’s okay.”
Reb was worried but she didn’t want to alarm her family. “We’ll find him. Speaking of Giles, have you seen him?”
Gable shook his head and said, “No. He might be in the back half of the train. Do you know what the bandits want? It’s not a train robbery. They’re just killing people and taking hostages.”
“The bandits must have a very unusual motivation. We should stop the train. It’s our best chance to halt the attack,” Reb recommended.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. The terrorists are protecting the controls. Priscilla and I tried to overthrow the bandit who’s driving the train, but one of his buddies tossed a smoke bomb at us,” Gable muttered.
Reb felt conflicted. “Once again, I have to make a decision. Do I search for Giles and Parker, or do I seize control of the train?”
“Either decision sounds risky, but they are both important. Follow your gut instinct. I’m sure your intuition will help you to make the right choice,” Savannah advised.
Elsewhere, Giles ran through the train with Parker. Along the way, he shoved a bandit out of the way. Soon, he reached the caboose and placed Parker in between some luggage.
The Post-Apocalyptic Society: A Nelson and Hyde Revolution Page 30