by A. S. Hames
BANG!
I feel heat. And light. I feel nothing.
BANG! BANG!
I fall.
BANG!
There’s smoke. I’m coughing. I think I hear voices echoing down from the sky. Maybe my spirit is merging with all the death and destruction I’ve caused. Maybe I’m trapped here for all time. What happens if I sleep? I am so, so tired.
I reach out for something to steady myself…
BANG! BANG! BANG!
…and the whole world spins and tumbles and turns to darkness.
What has become of me? Has everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve done, everything that’s waiting for me shrunk to nothing? All the lies I could expose. All the lives I could save. All the hope I could give. The work yet to be done…
BANG! BANG!
I descend. Not like the beautiful Nokomis, as a falling star, but crawling, downward, into Hell.
No, it’s the stairs.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Everything is fizzing and spitting. Everything is on fire.
But…
BANG! BANG!
I can crawl down to the floor below.
Once there, I get to my feet. My eyes are stinging but I’m okay.
I keep moving.
Two floors down, an unarmed man is peering out of a room. I wave him back with my gun and continue down.
BANG! BANG!
Near the bottom, there are men coming to see what’s what.
“The fireworks,” I say. “They started up.” I reckon one look at me tells them something is badly wrong up there. “One of them flew out and hit me. I think the Leader of the Nation might be trapped.”
A few of them rush up, which will make getting out easier.
“You stay there.”
It’s a voice from behind. Someone I didn’t see.
“I have to get back to the train,” I say.
“You’re going nowhere till I find out what’s going on.”
“I can’t stay,” I say, turning to face him. “I have to deliver a message for Mr Cartwright.”
A fraction of a second. That’s his delay. And my gun is in his face.
“Do you want to die?”
He drops his weapon and backs away. I take his gun and continue down the stairs. At the bottom, I hurry toward the back of the building. The door to the exit is closed and the guard who let me in is staring at me. I run the other way, hoping to make it all the way to the front door. There are voices coming from above. People are yelling at others to get out. This could be my opportunity, so I join in.
“Get out!” I yell. “There’s a fire! Everyone out!”
I tuck my guns into my waistband so they’re hidden under my shirt. Then I head through the front door. There are guards outside, looking up.
“Stay there!” one of them yells at me. His gun is pointed straight at me.
“There’s a fire!” I yell back at him.
There are people behind me, coming out.
“She’s the one,” one of them says. “She was up there.”
“Mr Cartwright’s dead!” yells another.
“Hands in the air!” the guard says.
I do as he says. I’m captured, my body is blackened, and there is blood running down my arm. From Forbearance to the Lake Towns, there are no more yards left to run.
A car pulls up in front of me.
“Stand back,” a guard says.
I do so, hands still in the air. It’s the Leader’s cousin, and I’ve spoiled his planned meeting. I almost find it funny. I mean he’s come all this way – by air!
He gets out and our eyes meet. All amusement falls from me. Two words form on my tongue.
“Steven Rose.”
He looks at me, and then at the guards.
“What’s going on?”
“Mr Cartwright’s dead, Colonel Rose, sir. And someone started a fire. It might have been this girl here…”
“If you have no evidence, let her go.”
“But sir…”
“Are you questioning me?”
“No sir!”
Steven Rose eyes me.
“We’re even,” he says.
I back away. And I run to where Ben and Von are waiting with the traders. I doubt I’ve been granted more than twenty seconds. We have to use it. The inferno is taking hold and I’ve killed the Leader of the Nation. A month ago I would have laid down my life to protect him. Now he’s just a casualty of a war his own family started. They can take responsibility for it. Whether he deserved to die is not a matter for me.
“Ben! Come on!”
A confused Ben and an excited Von join me in a race to the train. I think I see Zu in the back of a wagon. She’s not dead. She’s alive and looking right at me. Then someone pulls a cover over her. I can’t think straight. Maybe I’m losing my sanity.
We run along by the railroad wagons.
“Hey, stop!” someone calls.
BEN
I don’t think we’re about to stop just because someone is yelling at us. It only takes a glance to see that Jay has attempted to destroy their central building. There are flames leaping into the sky. It’s only the top two floors burning right now, but there’s no way they can get water up there so it’s as good as burned down. So, no, I’m not going to stop.
Krak! Krak!
We’re coming under fire! It’s a couple of guards.
I return shots.
“Where are we going?” I yell.
Krak! Krak!
More shots are coming in.
“Keep going!” Jay yells back at me.
Krak! Krak!
They hit the wrong people. A rail worker goes down.
Krak! Krak! Krak!
People are screaming and running. But the chaos is providing cover as I follow Jay and Von up onto the engine. There’s a man with a shovel in there, heaping coal into a little furnace.
“Let’s go,” Jay tells him.
We point our guns at the man. We will not die here.
“We don’t have enough pressure,” he says.
I can tell he’s not sure about our resolve.
“Look at me,” Jays says, “I’ve been shot up, blown up, and lied to. You think I won’t kill you?”
He must be looking into mad, bad eyes because he drops his shovel, pulls some levers and we’re moving.
“What about the gate?” I say.
“Hold on tight,” the man says, and we smash through the station’s north gate.
“We did it!” Jay says.
I’m happy too, only… we’re slowing.
“Not enough pressure,” the engine man says again. “She’ll stop any second.
I can see how it works. You shovel in more coal and get the boiler hot. Only, it’ll take ages, and we have about ten seconds.
“Come on!” I yell.
We jump off and we run. At least we’re outside the fort.
Now I look, I see we’re running into more danger. Three buffs.
Krak! Krak!
Shots are coming in. I shoot back. One of the buffs goes down.
JAY
My gun’s out of ammunition. I drop it and take out the other.
Krak! Krak!
The buffs turn and run.
“We’ll have to fly, Ben.”
“What??”
“It’s our only chance!”
Krak! Krak! Krak! Krak!
More shots are coming in. They must be up on the fort wall. Ahead, the two airplanes are a hundred yards apart, so I’m heading for the one farthest from the majority of guards.
Krak! Krak!
We shoot back and we keep running until we’ve brought down two more guards and reached the airplane. I’m grabbing the door handle when I realize someone’s inside.
I point my gun and we get in with a man at the controls.
“Let’s go,” I tell him.
He looks at me, looks at my gun that’s shaking in my hand a little, and he starts the engine. The pro
peller on the airplane’s nose turns.
“They’re getting close,” Ben says, looking back toward our pursuers.
They’re shooting high. They don’t want to hit the airplane. That won’t matter soon though, because they’ll be close enough to hit us direct.
Krak! Krak!
“We need to hurry,” says Ben.
“Okay, okay.”
The propeller is spinning so fast it almost vanishes. Now he eases off the brake, gives it some revs and… we’re on the move, which is both exciting and terrifying, although those emotions are thrown together with the fear and dread of being caught and shot. Even so, I must see what’s what. First up, there are more dials than I’ve seen before. Four of the damned things. Four! How many eyes does an air driver need?
“They’re getting nearer, Jay!”
I put the point of my gun into the driver’s ribs.
“If we die, you die.”
I hate myself, but he gives it more gas.
Question is how do we get up there? I think of the airplane landing like it was driving out of the sky onto the road. Smoothly so. Taking off must be the other way around. Nothing heavy-handed. Just like driving up a hill. Gently so.
I realize that in my fearful state, I’m pressing too hard into his side, but I can see he’s being gentle in pulling back the wheel, so it’s moving toward him. I see now that’s the way to get some lift.
He goes for it. Big on the throttle, gentle on the pullback.
And…
We’re…
Oh my.
“We’re up!” Ben says.
He’s right, but it feels like I left my stomach on the ground. Even Von whimpers. Then we bump down again… and lift up again. Now we’re running by some troops. I hope they don’t—
Krak! Krak!
Our driver slumps and we bump back down.
“Jay!”
I realize I’ll have to drive. I’m scared witless but what else can I do?
We pull the driver aside and I wonder briefly if he knew Flight Officer Charles G Kellerman. Then I crawl across to take the controls.
We’re bumping along the ground and running out of road, so I go for it. Big on the throttle, gentle on the pullback.
And…
We’re…
Ohhhh…
“We’re whoa…”
We’re in the air!
“Zu got away,” Ben says. His eyes are wide and wild and staring hard at the ground that’s moving away from us, so I guess he’s trying to think of something more encouraging.
“Good.” We’re higher now. Much higher.
“When the fire started, it all got crazy, so I told the traders she was an innocent girl set up by sly East State men.”
“The traders are all South State?”
“Yeah, they don’t trust the east. Lucky Zu, right?”
“That’s great, Ben. I’m hoping we can get out of trouble too.”
“Just keep it steady, Jay.”
“I’m trying.”
I’m hoping I don’t look as scared as Ben, but I’m sure I do. I don’t want the thrill of it. I just want to get me, Ben, and Von out of trouble so we can… can what? Go home?
I don’t know how fast we’re going – maybe a hundred miles an hour? I keep us steady and level and just let her go.
“Where are we going?” Ben yells. And he really does have to yell because it’s pretty noisy up here
“I’m not sure.”
But it’s not lost on me that at this speed…
Damn it to Hell. It feels like it’s taken a lifetime to get to the Lake Towns. In this thing, we could be home by nightfall. Is that all I need do? Point the nose northwest until we get there?
“Look,” Ben says. He’s pointing outside and downward.
I take in the scene below and gasp. I’ve been so busy getting this thing going, it’s only now I realize… the lake. It’s vast. I reckon turning the steering column to the left might take us that way – and it does. Although, again, the lurching movement makes me feel sick. It doesn’t last though. We now have the lake stretching into forever through the left hand window.
“Wow,” Ben says. And that’s all he need say. There’s nothing you could add.
I turn us right again – the lurch is horrible – and we’re back to our northwest heading.
“What’s in that flap above you?” Ben yells.
I look up and pull out a folded map.
“Ben? How do you feel about flying all the—”
An airplane flies past our nose.
“It’s the other one!” Ben yells.
I’m now feeling really unsafe. It’s way too far to the ground below. If anything happened, we’d be smashed to bits. I reckon I’d feel happier nearer the ground, so I take us down, down, down… until we’re flying just above the trees, which flash by beneath us. I won’t need to fly again after this. I’ll stick to walking.
“He’s coming around again!” Ben calls. “Do you think he’ll shoot?”
“I don’t know.”
On the ground, they wanted to keep their airplane, but now we’ve stolen it and they can’t get it back…?
Ben opens a window and starts shooting. He’s quickly out of ammunition, so I give him mine – but it’s empty. I look around and see a shelf low down. I feel in there, and there’s a handgun. I pass it to Ben.
He shoots, but I don’t think he hits anything because the other airplane is still coming.
I brace myself.
And it flashes by!
“Did he shoot?” Ben asks.
“I don’t know.”
But… I don’t like the fact that I can smell fuel. And… oh no, I can see a flame at the nose.
“We’re hit!” I yell. “Damn well front end!”
“Get us down, Jay!”
I’m looking for somewhere to do just that.
“Can you see anywhere?” I ask.
There’s smoke coming from the engine now. This is going to end badly if I don’t act fast. I look down. None of it makes sense. Maybe if we could see the Lake Country trail, but I can only see mountains. Hold on, we had mountains on our left when we came down. Now they’re to our right.
“I can see a railroad,” Ben yells, as if that might be useful. It isn’t, so I keep looking.
As it is, I find I’m now flying above that railroad, because I can see something ahead. I ease off the gas. There’s nowhere suitable to land and we don’t want to crash to the ground. So I’m just looking ahead to what I can see. A long train heading north.
“See that goods train?” I yell. “It’s hauling two dozen flatbed wagons the same direction we’re heading. The last few are empty. We’ll land on that.”
“What?”
“I said we’ll land on that.”
“I damn well heard you, Jay! We can’t land on it!”
“Okay we’ll jump on it then.”
“What??”
“If the train’s travelling at fifty miles an hour, all we have to do is get just above it at the same speed and jump down onto it.”
“There is no way on God’s earth it’s going to be that easy, Jay. No way ever!”
“We’re out of choices, Ben.”
The smoke from our engine is beginning to sting my eyes and I’m starting to cough, but I’m creeping up on the end of the train. It’s coming up, coming up… too fast! I pull to the right and have to come a long way round to line us up again. Only now the engine’s starting to splutter and there’s far too much smoke getting into our little compartment.
Ben starts coughing and I’m having trouble seeing too well.
I line us up again, and in we go… and closer. And… no! Damn well no!
We’re halfway up the damn thing before we can do anything. I pull us to the right again. If we overshoot, the engine driver will see us and stop the train.
I bring us back in line again. My heart is bouncing blood into my head with a drumbeat. I’m lining us up… and I slow u
s and slow us…
“Open the door and get ready to jump.
“Are you sure, Jay?”
“Jump or die, Ben. Those are the choices.”
Our eyes meet.
“Jay…”
“Beautiful Ben – jump.”
Ben goes.
“Go Von.”
Von goes.
Downward through the evening twilight,
In the days that are forgotten,
In the unremembered ages,
From the full moon fell Nokomis
There’s too much smoke. It’s making me cough… and now the damn engine is coughing too. Is this it? My death? I open the door. I lean.
I fall…
19. The Things We Don’t Say
JAY
The wind blows away memories. Like leaves in the fall. Sins and wrongs, fluttering and fading. Am I pure again? Am I a good citizen, honest and true? Will I become a teacher?
“Jay?”
I open my eyes. The sun blinds me but I can see I’m lying on my side on a wooden floor.
“Ben?”
“Ha-ha!”
I try to sit up but putting pressure on my left hand sends a tremendous pain up my arm. I put that down to the bullet that tore across the skin and muscle. That, and the fact that I must have slammed hard onto the wagon.
“The airplane…”
“Long gone, Jay. Smoking alongside the track way back.”
“Did I really jump?”
“We all did, but don’t ever try that again.”
The wind is in his hair and he looks more alive than I’ve ever seen before. I’m glad about that. I close my eyes and hold that picture of him in my thoughts.
“Up the front end?” he says. “Looks like they’re carrying drums of oil.”
“That’s why there’s a war, Ben. That and family.”
Ben… he’ll be quite a man in the years to come. I hope I get to see that. I hope I still know him when those days come around.
The light is fading as we pull into a station almost four hundred miles north of the Lake Towns.
LIBERTYVILLE
We stop alongside a raised platform. Farther up, there are animals, dead and alive, waiting to go back the other way, while eager men unload their oil.
We climb off and move away from the train.
Once we’re clear, we stop to check the map.