The Abandoned Island

Helping a Friend

The whole day, and the whole night, it would storm. Even the next morning, it was still drizzling, but that was far better than a full-on storm. The group decided it would be best to go out now since it seemed the storm had mostly passed.

Zephyra would open the door to the dreary, dark sky but stopped the engines before they could roll out. "There will be some rules for the expedition. First and foremost, as soon as the sky begins to turn to dusk, you stop in place where you are unless it is unsafe. I don't want any of you to travel at night in case there is something on the line or the line is in poor condition. Secondly, we will all return here in a weeks time. If you aren't back by then, then we will go out looking for you. Third, no speeding. You go at a crawl and no faster for the prior reasons given. If you feel unwell, you stop and shut down and wait for us to come find you. Don't be brave and try to push yourself. Am I understood?"

The engines all understood very well. She was putting all these restrictions in place for their sake. Their safety was her number one priority. With that, she followed all the diesels out into the rain and adjusted the tracks so they could all go to their respective directions. With added instructions for Salty to wait at Wellsworth for her and Edward to arrive. With a toot of all their horns, they headed off in their directions. Zeph hurried back into the building and shook the water off of herself.

"So, now it is time for us to get going." Edward said with a smile, but that turned to confusion as she shook her head. "I have something to discuss with the three of you." Victor and Kevin metaphorically stood up as all three vehicles' attention was on her. "Edward, we are gonna be going and grabbing an engine and bringing it back first before we head to Wellsworth. They are in...rough condition, to say the least, but I want to bring them here and repair them. I...don't want the others to see them as they are in very...very rough condition. Victor and Kevin, I'd like your help fixing them up, but I'd like you all to promise to me you won't say a word of their arrival here to anyone."

The three of them could see how much it meant to her, so they understood, but in their minds, they wondered who it could be. They immediately thought of all their friends and wondered who Zeph had found in such a bad state. With all three agreeing, Zeph climbed into Edwards cab and helped him couple up to the breakdown train. They then headed off after closing the Steamworks doors towards the Ironworks. It was a quiet trip as they chugged along, but Edward soon broke the silence. "So what is their name?" Zeph thought for a minute before she tilted her head. "I realize I never asked... I don't even know what their class is." Edward went quiet as he thought. As far as he knew, everyone was safe somewhere on the island, but the way she put it, this engine was in terrible condition. It would take most of the day creeping along till they were near Killdane, but before they reached it, Zeph turned them down towards the Ironworks.

Edward was surprised, then understood immediately. "You found the engine in the Ironworks, didn't you?" Zeph would slowly nod. "Yeah. Apparently, they have been their since the yard first opened." Edward seemed relieved in some part, but also confused. He was glad it wasn't one of his friends, but at the same time, he wondered who it could be as they headed down the line towards the Ironworks. It would be night by the time they arrived. "Familiar, Edward." She asked and chuckled nervously. "Yeah. It is like when we found Arry and Bert, but now we are finding a new engine."

Zeph stood on Edwards running board with her flashlight and shone it on the tracks to make sure they didn't hit anything. They crept deeper and deeper into the building till they saw a dirty little flag sitting in the middle of the tracks. She grinned as she had Edward pull forward past it a little bit before hopping out of his cab. "Ok, wait here." She said, and before he could answer, she began to scramble up the pile. This brought back the memory of climbing this very pile to find parts for the brothers. When she got to the top, she looked down and smiled as she saw the engine still where she had left it. She almost bounced with excitement before she gently climbed down towards it. When she got down, she saw it was sleeping again. Very fitting considering how she had met them. She walked around to the engines front and crouched down. "Excuse me."