Lincoln used one hand to try and pull her hands from his face, but he still had the gun in his other hand and he couldn’t get her off him.
“I knew you wouldn’t let go of the gun,” she said.
“People like you never do. You can’t get a shot at me, but you’re not going to let go of the gun.”
His eyes burned into her.
“And you want to live, but I don’t care,” she said. “I just want to make it stop. Make it all stop.”
“You fuh –” he started to say, but he was weakening.
“So maybe,” she said as he struggled, “maybe this is water and maybe this is antidote and maybe it’s just a toy bear. Let’s see.”
She kept her hands over his face. His eyes closed and he dropped the gun. She let go of his body and he slumped to the floor.
* * *
“What do you know, Teddy?” said Garland.
* * *
Poppy woke after a few minutes. She was shaking, but the shaking began to die away.
“How did you…” she asked.
“I smashed all the vials into Teddy,” said Garland. “Sorry. Antidote, water, the lot. And I stuck Teddy down his throat until the fucker choked.”
“Language,” said Poppy.
She reached into Lincoln’s throat and pulled the bear out.
“Someone needs a wash,” she told it.
* * *
They stood over Banks’s body.
“Bullet to the chest,” Poppy said. “The bastard.”
“Yes,” said Garland. “But –”
And Banks coughed.
“What the fuck!” Poppy shouted.
“They moved everything round,” said Garland. “Remember? Lincoln taunted him about it. He said they put his organs in new places. So –”
“His heart’s not in the right place,” said Poppy, and laughed.
* * *
Banks was still in some pain.
“I can’t believe I’m not dead,” he said.
“You’re going to need a lot of rest,” said Garland. “And maybe an X-ray.”
“The bullet passed through me,” Banks said.
“She means we need to find out where everything is inside you,” said Poppy. “We need a map.”
Garland stood up and looked around the cockpit.
“We need a lot of maps,” she said.
* * *
They pushed Lincoln’s body out of the side door.
* * *
Banks said, “Can you bring me the kitbag please? There’s some cans left.”
“No way,” said Poppy. “Those things will outlive us.”
“Of course they will,” said Banks. “That’s what cans are for.”
He opened one and offered it to Garland. She was about to refuse when Poppy shook her head.
“Peace offering,” said Poppy. Garland looked at Banks.
“Blueberry,” he said and gave her a spoon.
“My favourite,” said Garland.
She took a mouthful of the purple mess.
“Delicious,” she said.
“You are such a liar,” Poppy said.
* * *
They sat there, eating from the cans as the train ploughed through the night.
“Is it me or have the explosions stopped?” asked Banks.
“You’re right,” said Poppy. “There are no more lights in the sky.”
“Nothing to guide us but ourselves,” Garland said.
She stood up.
“Banks,” she said. “Can you find me that song? The princess one,” she remembered.
“I still don’t know how you can speak languages,” said Poppy. “You must have had an amazing education.”
“I must have had, mustn’t I?” said Garland.
Poppy clambered slowly over to the screen Lincoln had used before. She touched a button, scrolled down, and hit a key.
“Music,” she said.
Meree raajakumaaree chalee gaee hai
Kabhee nahin lautane ke lie
Poppy studied the consoles for a while.
Mainne itanee der intajaar kiya hai
Main har samay intajaar karoonga
“Doors,” Poppy said, and pressed another switch.
All over the train, in compartments and carriages, air rushed in as the doors swung open.
“Rain,” said Poppy, and hit a button.
The sprinklers came on and drenched every carriage. Water surged downwards and outwards over the walls and floors and flushed everything out through the open doors.
Garland sat in the driver’s seat.
“That one,” Poppy said. She was pointing at a switch. “Manual override,” she explained.
Garland took the driver’s controls.
“Now what?” said Banks.
Garland pressed the override and, as the train screamed and lurched, took hold of the controls.
“There’s a world out there,” she said. “Let’s fix it.”
* * *
Poppy swiped screens. New maps appeared, new options.
* * *
“Look,” said Banks, pointing out of the window.
Far off, and tiny in the grey sky, was a patch of blue, like a flower in the dust.
Garland smiled.
“Blue skies,” she said.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Cat Camacho, Lydia Gittins, Polly Grice and Julia Lloyd at Titan, and also to Andrew Lownie at the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency. And thanks to Liz Buckley at Ace Records, for sending me All Aboard: 25 Train Songs (Ace Records), which is a one-CD jukebox. I listened to a lot of train songs whilst writing this book, by everyone from Chuck Berry and Ozzy Osbourne to the Pet Shop Boys and Cath Carroll, but especially several Indian train songs from the movies, from Mangal Singh’s “Rail Gadd” to “Mere Sapno Ki Rana” by Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore.
David Quantick is an Emmy Award-winning television writer for such shows as Avenue 5, Veep, The Thick of It and The Day Today. He is the author of All My Colors, Sparks, The Mule, and two writing manuals: How To Write Everything and How To Be A Writer. Find him at www.davidquantick.com or @quantick on Twitter.
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Night Train Page 23