After 30 minutes I see the immobile train.
“I can see the train Moya,”
“The reapers have some people locked up in it, some important to keeping the people of the Neon in line. More importantly, there's a chance John is locked in there,”
“Want me to bust them out?”
“No. You're in the heart of reaper territory, and they'll kill anyone trying to escape. You need to move the train to a safe location,”
“How am I supposed to do that? Push?”
“If you stay in contact with the lead car it should move from you generating it,”
I jump from building to building to get to the dead train. Once I set foot on the front car, electricity flows from my body into the train and it starts moving.
I yell out to the citizens in the car.
“Just stay calm in there!”
I hear muffled shouts and talking but I can’t make out what they’re saying.
The nearest station to here isn’t too far from here. Should take about 10 minutes.
After cruising on the tracks for a few minutes, I see cars on the train tracks, god knows how the reapers got them on there. I jump off the train and clear the tracks of the cars and get back onto the train.
It’s been a couple minutes and the reapers have been barely resisting. Something isn’t right.
Just then I hear something slicing through the air behind me, like it’s moving at an extreme speed. I turn but there’s nothing there. Just then something snatches me off the train and slams me into a nearby building. It’s a reaper but it’s wearing white robes.
“Ack!...so you have..a speed advantage..”
I try to kick the reaper but he dashes away.
“Cough..cough..damn,”
The reaper dashes back and punches me in the gut. I grab its arm and reach for its skull, draining it of its neuroelectricity and killing it instantly.
Moya starts talking.
“Cole, get out of there, they have the advantage,”
“Yeah..I didn’t notice,”
“So I assume that you saw the reaper conduit,”
I start to climb back up towards the train.
“The reaper what?”
“Reaper conduit. They’re reapers that got powers from the blast. Just another thing for you to look out for,”
“Great..”
“You're almost there. I let everyone know that you're bringing in the train, and they'll be waiting at the station. Don't let them down,”
I get back on the head car and it starts to speed down the tracks. I turn the corner and shortly come to a screeching halt in the station.
When I roll into the station, people are surprised to see me.
I hop down and open the train doors, people start to flood out and hug their loved ones.
Then, people start to come up to me.
“Thank you so much, my son would’ve died out there!”
“Thanks, you’re a life saver,”
“You're a hero!”
The sudden praise throws me off. Yesterday they wanted my head on the platter, and now they act like I’m one of the family. Hypocrites.
But, to be honest, it was nice even for this short time to be treated like a hero. Felt good.
As people started to leave the station, I scanned the crowd for John, and he was nowhere to be seen. After everyone left the station, I started to talk to Moya.
“Moya, John wasn’t here,”
“Damn. That was the best lead we’ve had so far. Good news for you is that word of mouth could start changing peoples perception of you,”
“Yeah, I could get used to that,”
I add on.
“Now that this is done, what now?”
“For now you’re on break until I find another lead or if something needs to be addressed,”
“Alright,”
I walk out of the station and decide to go home and sleep.