Rescue

Part 8: Long Journey

My eyes open and I see the moonlight bleeding into the train car as it rocks us back and forth.

I lift my neck, a shooting pain moving through it from the soreness. I inhale and notice I'm sitting up straight against the wall of the train car.

I notice a weight on my thighs and realize whatever I rested my left arm on was slowly moving up and down.

I slowly look down, careful not to hurt my neck, and I see Ray laying on his back with his head on my lap. My left arm is sitting across his chest and my legs are crossed, straightened out in front of me.

No way in hell can I move, now. Neither of us actually slept well in the past two nights, so I want to let him get all the sleep his body will allow him. I put my head back into a more comfy position and close my eyes again, letting the movements of the train rock me back to sleep.

...

Ray's POV

...

My fingers crack and my legs stretch out until they shake. Stifling a yawn, my eyes open and stare straight at Adora's face. Her head is somewhat upright, obviously fighting gravity in her sleep.

I lift my head, careful not to wake her, and see her left arm resting directly over my chest. My face suddenly becomes warm when I realize I was asleep, in her lap, for god knows how long. The sun was already rising and occasionally blinded me through the cracks of the train car walls as it peeked through the trees.

Adora's arm twitched and her eyes opened to look directly into mine. She doesn't react, we just stay completely still. The eye contact between us is intense, but it's not romantic like you would assume. The look in her eyes is telling me that she trusts me, just as I trust her.

She gives me a soft smile through a tired expression and lifts her arm to stretch. I sit up and she gets to her feet, moving to look out the train car.

...

Adora's POV

...

I poke my head out the train car and see that we're in a more civilized area. The train is going slower than it was when we first fell asleep. I pull a few berries I found in the woods, ones I know aren't poisonous obviously, and throw a few into my mouth. I turn around and extend my handful of berries to Ray, and he lets me pour them into his palm.

"We should be able to get off in a few minutes, most likely," I say when I start to recognize street signs as we fly by.

"Awesome," he says with a mouth full of berries.

We sit around and wait, bouncing our legs we fill with anxiety. I mentally prepare myself to run, even though it's not likely our search as extended to here.

My family has driven to our cabin multiple times when we still lived here in northern California, so I know the roads by heart. The train station should be maybe a mile from the forest entrance, then another sixteen miles or so to the cabin.

"Dear god, I'm getting nervous," I mumble.

He puts a hand on my shoulder, I guess he somehow heard me. "How come?" he asks.

"We're so close yet so far. We basically have everything to lose now."

He pulls me into a one-armed side hug and patted my shoulder. "At the same time, we have nothing to lose." I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Of course you have to be right."

He lets out a laugh and we suddenly get nearly thrown to the ground by the train's brakes engaging. We sit down and wait for the train to stop. The screeching of the brakes brings our hands over our ears and the rocking of the train gets much more aggressive.

Eventually the train stops and we carefully uncover our ears. I poke my head out once more and decide we have a better chance of escaping on the right side.

Ray and I stealthily clamber down from the train car and make sure no one is looking. For basically the fiftieth time now, we break into a mile-long sprint.