The Silver Shadow

What's on That Train?

"Shit," you muttered to yourself as you threw your body where no one would be able to spot you.

You were on the end of a train, speeding down its tracks in the middle of rural New England. You hung on for dear life as the train bumped and jolted along its route, desperate to keep on the narrow ledge that separated you from your end. As your life flashed before your eyes, you struggled to remember why you had decided to jump on in the first place.

Something is on this train... Something that can help me find out  who I am...

"There it is," a guard hollered to his buddy, "There's what I saw."

You heard the door at the back of the car open and a gunpoint in your direction. Shots fired as he tried to figure out where you had gone. You grabbed the wrist and yanked. Hard. The man wasn't expecting that, and he flew off the train and landed on the track. You barely got a good look at him as the train continued on its path, unaware of the man that was no longer on it.

He was dead. Probably fell on his back and blew out his ribs. Or landed on his head and got a deadly jolt.

I wonder if he had a family... No... I can't think about that... Focus... Something's on this train...

The next guy was going to be a little more complicated. She had just seen her buddy get thrown off a train and was probably ready for the worst. You quickly pulled my gun out. You had nicknamed it 'Gold' to mirror your alias, The Silver Shadow. You spun your upper body inside the train, and two shots later, you didn't have anyone else to worry about.

Even though you had been killing and fighting your entire life, you always felt just a little remorse for your victims. Just a little. In the business of lying and killing, having a heart was a dangerous game. But having a heart is what kept your humanity. It's what allowed you to experience emotions other than cold and broken, which you saw in the other agents.

You didn't know if the rest of the train had been alerted to your presence yet. The car you were in was empty other than a few cargo containers. They probably had weapons in them, which ordinarily would have interested you. Except that they weren't what you were searching for. What you wanted... Well. It felt more... human.

As you moved to the front of the car and prepared to go to the next one, your senses started to act up. Deep down, you knew this was a bad idea, but you needed to know what was on this train that had gotten you so curious. You made a mental check of where your weapons were; knives up your sleeves and on your belt, tranquilizer darts on your wrist, a gun on each of your hips and one in your hand, sniper rifle on your back, as well as a variety of lethal substances in the supply belt around your waist.

You took a deep breath and opened the door. The next car appeared to be exactly like the one before it—only a few cargo boxes. You were about to breathe a sigh of relief when you saw a red dot on the floor next to your foot.
You knew what was coming next.

You had to get out of there.

Shit, shit, shit, what was I thinking... They can't take me in... They probably have a kill order on me... I gotta get out... NOW

They smashed through the windows since they were bulletproof. At least you had figured. After that you guessed that you had about five seconds to get out of there before you would be killed or taken into custody.

But luckily, you had a trick up your sleeve. It was an old magician's trick. A little elementary, you weren't afraid to admit. But it would work. You had used it countless other times to get out of similar sticky situations.

You pulled the vial out of your belt and smashed it on the ground. Black powder filled the air. No one could see anything.

"What the fuck" "Don't let her escape" "Keep her in here," the soldiers who had come in cried.

Well, well, well, my reputation precedes me...

In the madness of the black powder, you had gotten your Lazer, bought fresh off the Wakandan black market, and used it to cut a hole in the bottom of the train. The center fell through, and you were able to crawl through it. Less than a meter separated you from the tracks, and the train hadn't slowed down.

Hanging from the pipes under the train, you realized that you were going to be okay. That you would survive this. You would probably have to disappear again, but you were used to that.

You braced for impact and let yourself drop. Pain shot through your torso as you hit the ground. You laid there until the train had become no more than the size of a toy from your perspective, and you were sure that you wouldn't be spotted.

Slowly, you peeled yourself from the ground. Your heart hammered through your chest but began to slow as you realized that the encounter was over. You were not dead. You had not been caputred. You would be fine.

You stood up and surveyed your surroundings. The train had carried you from a wooded thicket in rural Massachusetts to another forest, but probably at least two hundred miles away. Instead of maple and hemlock trees thickly knitted into a soft blanket with peeps of blue sky, this area was dark. The tall, thick trees blocked out most of the sun, leaving the undergrowth to consist of nothing more than soft moss and dead branches. What little glimpses of the sky you could get were nothing more than dark gray clouds.

You were no longer sweating. Instead, you began to shiver and wished your suit had come with a portable heater or at the very least, a thicker jacket.

At least I'm alive... but what was on that train! Why did I feel so strongly towards it even if I had no clue what it was? WHY?!