"..Maddy?"
Duck was calling out for his friend. He was far enough from the explosion that it didn't affect him much, but Maddy? She was but a few feet away from it all. All Duck saw was dust, smoke and flames billowing from the site, and it was spreading to more flammable things.
"Driver! Call the fire and rescue crew!" yelled the Great Westerner. "And maybe an ambulance! Ooooh..dear this isn't good at all.."
He couldn't see her, not even a silhouette of her. He felt his heart racing, looking back to his fireman.
"Sir, please call James' driver."
His fireman nodded, dialing the number of his colleague.
At the same time Maddy was delivering her trucks, James was delivering animal feed to a local farmer in the area. He still hated it, but he knew the animals needed it, so it made it slightly less terrible. James only wished he could at least deliver trucks to the coast, where his paint would look oh so splendid, and Maddy would be there of course. They could annoy Duck together and it would be just divine.
"Why do I have to deliver this..? Can't Sir Topham Hatt find another engine..?"
"You're the only engine available," chuckled his driver, "So it had to be you."
James grumbled. This sucked. But sooner or later, the tracks beneath him rumbled, and a noise was heard soon after.
"They must need a lot of explosives over there.." he mumbled. "They're shaking the whole island."
As soon as he got to his destination, he rested in his spot as his cargo was being unloaded. He then heard a phone go off. It didn't sound like his, so it must be his driver or his fireman. He soon found out when he heard one of them answer.
"Hello?" said his driver. "Oh! Mitch! What are you calling for?"
His driver went silent for what felt like forever. Did James need to be worried? It was a 50/50 shot. Mitch was Duck's fireman, so what could he want with his driver?
"..Oh..dear.." James heard him mumble. "He's..oh boy..how do I tell him that?"
He bit his lip and talked to Mitch for a bit before hanging up, uncoupling James from his trucks, and coming forward to face his engine.
"What's going on, driver?" he asked.
James didn't get an answer. Seemed his driver was trying to find a way to tell him whatever was going on.
"James..ah...how to put this.." he sighed. "There's been an accident on the coast."
"..O..kay..?"
"They can't find your girlfriend."
James had never moved so fast in his life. Not even when trucks were pushing him along the line. He'd never had a panic attack either. Is this what they felt like? Having the world feel like it's closing around you and you can't breathe? That it feels like the world is crumbling beneath your wheels..? Dear Lady, it was scary.
"Duck! Duck!!" he yelled, screeching to a halt beside the Pannier. What lay in front of them was a giant pile of flames, melted track and various other rubble.
"James! You're here?!"
"Why wouldn't I be?! What happened!?" James demanded.
"I don't know! One minute I was talking to her and the next, all the explosives went off! I tried to warn her James..I really did..!" Duck choked out.
"Is she..?"
"We can't even find her, James. The fire and rescue crew, and an ambulance should be here any minute!"
"Well they need to get here faster!"
Duck knew James wasn't mad at him. He was frantic for the safety of his girlfriend. Who wouldn't be? It was a terrifying thing to think about. Being happy at one hour, and your life crumble before you the next.
"Okay..okay okay..uhm.." he breathed. "What else happened before she arrived here, Duck?"
"Well, she was coming in pretty quickly..and she rammed into the buffers over there..and said something about her skates being overly oiled and very slick.."
"..Maddy doesn't oil her skates that much..she's not that stupid..I know her better than that.." he choked. "Dear Lady..please..please..not again.."
Duck consoled his friend as the ambulance and fire crew arrived. It was put out rather quickly, all that they needed to do was search the rubble. There was a lot of it, so no time could be wasted.
"Hey, Paul." a fireman called. "What's so special about this girl?"
"I dunno, Rodney, somethin' about being the number 15 on his railway. Why?"
Paul, instead of getting a verbal answer, was shown a scrap of fabric on it with her number.
"Well that girl's gotta be near the area you found that, c'mon!" Rodney commanded. The crew was now in full drive at the area the fabric was found.
"Found a leg!" called one.
"A leg?!" James screamed. No way she could've been blown to pieces, right?!
"Don't..Don't jump to conclusions, please.." muttered Duck. He didn't want to think about that outcome.
"Heave, men!"
The ambulance and fire crew slowly pulled out an unconscious girl, clothes burned, tattered and bloody. It looked as though one of her arms were broken. Rather badly, actually. Wounds from blasted debris and flying rocks were scattered across her body, especially apparent through the burn holes in her clothing from the flying hot debris.
"See James..she's a whole person."
"But is she alive?!"
James puffed up to the ambulance, alerting one of the members.
"Can I ride along with her? Please? Please please please? I need to be there for her."
"I..mean..I..suppose..?" they slowly spoke out.
"Great!"
He wasted no time in becoming his human self and hopping in the ambulance. Soon after, Maddy was lifted in via a stretcher.
"Oh..my little Honey Bee.." he gasped, grabbing onto her bloody hand. "What could've happened to you..?"
James thought about her situation during the ride to the hospital. Maddy wouldn't over-oil her wheels..there wasn't any oil on the tracks..at least not to Duck's knowledge.
"Either this is some sick..sick joke.." he growled, "Or someone is trying to get rid of you.."