“D-da-damn, s-son,” Sheska sneered through gritted teeth, clutching her broken fingers to her chest, “y-ou re-really followed us all thi-is way, didncha?”

K cocked his pistol as the two guards collapsed into pools of their own blood. After this ruckus, more were sure to pour in any moment.

“Now lass, if you’re not prepared for your cargo’s friends to trail you to the ends of the planet, then I can’t imagine you’re very good at your job. Now then, the ledgers? I have seven more digits to work through.”

Sheska snorted, “you think I’ve never had a finger broken? Kid I’ve been at this job longer than you’ve known how to count!”

“And yet you’re surprised to see us,” snorted Ryla as she poked her head through the opening she’d made in the window. Her eyes fell onto Sheska’s hand as K held a blade to her throat, restraining her for the moment. “I thought we agreed no torture,” she glowered at her partner.

“We never even discussed the matter,” K shot back.

“Yes we did! I told you straight up, no torture, and as little murder as possible!”

“No, you tore off your shirt, screamed like a Scottsman, then jumped onto the train before I could even tell you the plan.”

“We went over the plan before we left! And I said no torture!”

“Look, we’re here now, let’s work with what we’ve got.”

“I did say no torture,” Ryla muttered under her breath.

“The ledger, lass,” K pressed the blade deeper into Sheska’s throat.

“It’s on the dashboard, in the locomotive. It’s all in the computer.”

Ryla opened her mouth to ask something else, but whatever came out was drowned by the sudden piercing wail of an alarm broadcasting from somewhere on the ceiling. She snarled in pain at the sudden start.

“Am I to assume the gunshots didn’t tip your driver off to us being here?” K muttered.

“Ergh… tha-that’s the breach al-larm. Me-means the bo-sses know you’re h-here!”

“My questions tands,” K kept his gaze fixed on the door to the car ahead of them.

“The tracks,” Sheska continued, “they’ll hav-ave been s-s-switched by now.”

“Switched to what?” Ryla demanded through grit teeth.

“My-my gue-guess? Over gl-gla-Glassteel Bridge.”

The gears in Ryla’s head turned for a moment before the meaning of that statement registered, giving K time to voice what he had already realized.

“Glassteel Bridge was demolished.”

“Now y-you’re g-getting it!”

K and Ryla exchanged glances. K nodded his head, “She could be bluffing, but the sooner we grab the ledgers, the better.”

With a nod of her own, Ryla withdrew through the window and turned to face the engine. She needed to get there NOW. Like an enormous lizard, she scurried forth, rushing from car to car, her missing arm only barely slowing her down. Was the world zooming by faster than it had been earlier? No, no, that had to be her nerves.
She became vaguely aware of shapes shooting out from the cars ahead, and she realized that the rest of the crew was bailing out. Apparently Sheska had not been bluffing!

She raced forth, digging her claws into the roof with each step before reaching the locomotive itself. She leaned over and peered inside, finding the driver’s side door wide open and the cabin vacant. The conductor had probably been the first one out, honestly. Ryla stuck her head in, followed by her arm, then allowed the rest of her mass to flow inside until she was standing right beside the conductor’s seat. There was indeed a screen lodged in the dashboard, with a series of buttons Ryla didn’t recognize. That was a bit less of a concern than the words on said screen, however, as they hit Ryla’s eyes and her mind adjusted the alien characters into something she understood: “System locked. Input Administrator Code.”


The pounding of the engine ahead of her revved into a smokey, high-pitched scream, shattering all doubts as to whether the train was accelerating. The world outside was just a green and blue blur now and the horizon was growing ever larger. So much larger, in fact, she could see their destination ahead. In less than a minute, they would cross Konga River - the river over which Glassteel Bridge was built. Ryla didn’t wait to confirm what she already knew: This train was now officially on a rail to self-destruction. She frantically fiddled with the buttons on the dashboard, hoping beyond the edge of hope that this was some kind of elaborate trick, or if there was a workaround. The screen, however, failed to change - and ahead the river was growing rapidly closer.

She looked outside, no longer able to distinguish the rails from the ground from the treeline. It was all just a colored blur.

The ledger was here. She HAD to save it. Could she brute force it? No, not at this speed. The train would just run her down, even if she was at full strength.

The engine screamed louder and a loud crash rang out as something inside it burst. She could see the bridge bearing down, its middle having collapsed during a hurricane. The rails were covered in litter and debris, but that wouldn’t stop the train anymore. The engine would plow right through it and dive straight into the river. It would plunge hundreds of feet down, shattering against the current, destroying any and all data that the computer had within.

Ryla was frozen. She couldn’t lose the data. Could she tear the computer out of the dash? No, the power surge would kill it. Maybe it it were turned off. Could she turn it off?

The engine screamed louder.

Which button was the power? None of these switches had labels.

The river became obscured by the cliffsides as they approached the edge of the bridge.

Could she just risk it? Rip the console out? Ruki and Amaro were counting on her! What if it didn’t work?

Even the moon seemed to blur now as they raced forth.

There were prisoners on this train. Prisoners just like her friends.

They were on the bridge now. Ryla screamed and barreled through the cabin, tearing down the back wall and bringing her talon down on the connecting point that held the cars to the engine. With almost unreal force, she crushed the steel grip, severing the engine from its cargo and freeing it to meet its doom in the waves.

They were still moving. At this speed, the momentum would carry it well over the edge. Ryla knew what she had to do. She allowed only a painful whimper to escape her lips before she secured her grip on the car and swung her body down into the tracks, letting the full inertia of the train hit her directly. She screamed again, this time drowning out the wail of the engine as it soared from the tracks and was lost forever. She could feel the wooden bars in between the rails snapping against her ankles like popsicle sticks as she was pushed back. The mad charge became an inevitable creep as the train slowed bit-by-bit. Old beams and planks and slabs of granite slammed into her back, only to be pushed away as she and the cars rumbled forth. Ryla could feel the tracks beginning to incline as they approached the downward plunge. She dug her talons into the ground, tearing great gashes into it as she fought for every newton of resistance she could muster. The cars groaned loudly, the metal straining against the forces pulling and pushing at it from opposite ends. Ryla felt the moist air rising up from the river below as she was bent over backwards, pushing the train away even as her own body found itself standing practically perpendicular to the ground.

And then, with a low moan, the train relinquished the struggle, allowing her to hold its weight in her arms.

With another cry, she pushed it back, heaving her body forward and securing the cars away from the edge. She pushed and pushed and pushed, her muscles burning, her lungs aching for air, but not stopping until the cars were on firm, solid land once more.

And then she collapsed.

***


“H-hey. Are you alive?”

It took Ryla a moment to realize she had blacked out. She blinked the world back into focus, finding herself gazing up at a stranger. She sat up, prompting an obvious start from the girl, who she quickly recognized as one of the prisoners.

“Yeah. Yeah… are… are we all okay?”

The girl was shivering, which was an impressive feat given the heat. She opened her mouth to speak, but failed to form any answer.

Ryla oozed to her feet, taking a deep breath and willing her shape to compress back into some semblance of humanity. With a twirl of the fingers on her one remaining hand, she produced a series of silken strands that rapidly merged together into a sheet, which she handed the girl.

“Well, you’re safe now. Do you have a name?”

The girl once again took a while to respond, but finally mumbled “Kaiko.”

“Hi, Kaiko. My name’s Ryla. You’re not hurt are you?”

Kaiko shook her head, withdrawing as much of her mass into the blanket as she could.

“Good. Good.” Ryla gazed at the wreckage. She hadn’t QUITE managed to stop the train clean, as it turned out. Several of the cars near the rear were overturned, some of them mangled beyond recognition. The hole she’d torn in the roof of one during the scuffle had been ripped wide open. Then she noticed the shapes laying around the mangled car, recognizing them as some of the goons she’d webbed up before rush. Well, at least someone had pulled them out of the wreckage, though the jury was out on whether or not they were still alive.

She sighed, the weight of what had happened falling on her shoulders. The data in the ledger was almost certainly lost. Could she have pulled it out if she’d acted sooner? She pulled a bucket from one of the cars and slumped down on it. After a moment, Kaiko pulled out a second bucket and sat down beside her, wrapping herself up tightly.

“Sorry about your friends. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

Ryla looked to her and nodded. “Yeah.” The girl went silent, so Ryla continued. “But we saved one prisoner, so y’know, worth it. It’s… I’ll track them down.” she sighed. “Someday… If it came down to it, they’d agree. This was the right call.” She smiled at Kaiko.

“You can ask them yourself when you find them,” called out a voice from behind. Ryla turned to find K, having taken the time to dramatically pose himself upon one of the overturned cars, before he tossed a book at her. She caught it, finding herself holding a three-ring binder filled with stationary.

“Seems Sheska was holding out on us,” K called down, “I’ve got what I need,” he patted the inside of his coat pocket.

“Is… is this-”

“The ledger, yep. Guess they had a backup, just in case.”

Ryla grinned fiendishly, flipping through the pages, her heart racing once again. She scanned the names and descriptions, attempting to find the ones that matcher Ruki and Amaro.

Her heart sank as the found the words “Yamatasian male. Demi-human. Sold to Vermithrax estate.” followed by a series of numbers representing measurements.

“Find them?” Kaiko asked, leaning over.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Ryla muttered, the weight of that name sitting on her. “The good news is, I know where Amaro is!”

“And the bad?”

“Valerie Vermithrax. I’ve heard stories about her.” Ryla closed the ledger, breathing deeply to calm her nerves. “SO, that’s gonna… that’s going to be fun.” She turned to Kaiko, “FIRST, let’s get you home. Where can I take you?”

“That’s… a good question,” Kaiko answered reluctantly.

Ryla once again needed a moment to process the meaning of this. “Oh. You’re a castaway aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what that means, but probably.”

Ryla stood up and stretched. “Well, you’re not alone there. I know a place where you’ll be safe though. They can take care of you while you figure things out.”

Kaiko stood up reluctantly.

Ryla smiled, trying very hard to push the dread in her heart away. Vermithrax Estate was practically a fortress. THIS was going to take some doing…

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