"December 3rd, 1976"
It had been quite some time since Toby's accident and Darrell had begun to awake from his unruly slumber.
"Oh lord sake it now. This has really gotta stop happening to me."
Darrell rubbed his shoulder and winced in pain.
"Of course," he thought. "I just had to land in glass didn't I."
As Darrell clambered to his feet he looked around to see the coach had toppled on its side. Luggage has fallen from its compartments and all the windows were shattered. Darrel looked to his side and he fell back in terror. There was a well dressed man laying nearby, fist clenching a metal cross. A large shard of glass was lodged in his throat. Darrell walked over and closed the man's lifeless eyes before making his way towards a window. He threw some cloth over the edges to not further damage his hands before making his way outside. The mist was a lot thicker now and Darrell swore he could see silhouettes moving in the distance.
"That's just your mind playing tricks on you." said a voice.
Darrell jumped and looked back at the weary eyed tram engine laying in the field. His cow catchers were dented and bent from the impact and his face had a few scrapes from fence shards.
"The figures in the distance, they aren't real...for now at least. Everyone has long since gone. Even my crew left me. Can't blame them really, not much they could've done."
Darrell just looked around uncomfortably rubbing his battered arm.
"You're not used to talking locomotives are you?"
"How'd you know?"
Toby laughed. "When you're as old as I, you tend to see things others don't." There was a long pause before Toby began again. "You lost your family and you blame yourself for it, don't you?"
Darrell clenched his fists. The memories were still fresh in his mind even after all the blunt force trauma he's been through.
"You'd best get going, that Death Zone creeping up on us. I'd hate to see you get caught in that."
Darrell didn't say anything else and began walking away. He was running out of time and wouldn't die because he decided to make small talk with a locomotive. However Darrell couldn't shake this feeling of sympathy for it as he kept looking back towards it till he could no longer see it.
***
"December 3rd, 1976, Elsbridge"
Darrell had been walking through the mist for goodness knows how long at this point. He hadn't seen a clock in days. A small glimmer of hope filled his mind as the outline of a station could faintly be seen through the mist.
"Thank the lord, finally a place I can rest."
Darrell grabbed the door handle and pushed, but nothing. The door was locked.
"Figures."
Darrell kicked once, then twice, then three times, but nothing. He rubbed his head in frustration when a voice echoed from the mist.
"H-Hello? Is someone there?"
It was feminine and older in tone. Darrell carefully maneuvered his way towards the voice and found it to belong to a car. It was far older than most he had seen, definitely one his father would have driven.
"Urm hello there?" Darrell asked cautiously. He half expected the car to be some sort of ambush and awaited someone to jump out of the bushes at him.
"Hello," said the old car, "I'm Caroline. Would you be so kind as to help me?"
Darrell wasn't too sure what to say. As the tram engine said he's no good at talking with sentient vehicles. Although he did like the idea of driving instead of walking for once.
"Well I'm not sure what you'd expect me to do without your keys."
"Oh they're on the seat. Passenger side I believe." said Caroline.
Darrell finally looked up at the windshield and saw what looked to be an outline of a man sitting in the driver's seat. He walked closer and put his hands to the window and stepped back in shock. There was Dr. Joseph Taggart laying lifeless in the seat. The bullet hole in his head still looked somewhat fresh. Darrell could see a gun clenched in the doctor's cold hand. Darrell almost felt sick, but nothing could come up even if he tried. He's barely eaten anything in days. Darrell took a few deep breaths to calm himself before looking back at the car. A sudden wave of sympathy fell upon him towards her.
"I...I'm sorry you had to go through that."
Caroline didn't say anything. She just whimpered to herself quietly.
Darrell grabbed hold of the door handle and pulled. To his surprise it opened without fuss.
"Oh thank the lord." he thought. The last thing he wanted to do was break the window. That would only lead to one those creatures finding them.
Darrell took great care in removing his colleague's corpse and placed him on the ground. He closed Taggart's eyes and had a moment of silence before climbing into Caroline. He grabbed the keys and her engine whirred to life.
"Half a tank." Darrell thought. "That should be good enough."
Darrell couldn't lie, it felt weird driving a car again. Let alone it being sentient. Could she feel his hands on her wheel and pedals? Those thoughts didn't sit well with Darrell and Caroline could sense that.
"So dear, what brought you to Elsbridge? Were you just wandering or were you looking for something?"
"I was a part of this evacuation train. We didn't make it all too far."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
Darrell didn't reply. The image of the well dressed man flashed in his mind. He clenched the brim of his nose to compose himself and took a deep breath before opening up about everything. His job, his family, James no stone in his life was left untouched. Caroline just listened intently.
"I'm deeply sorry you've had to go through all that. Do know I don't blame you for jumping. I wouldn't be mad if you did that to me. I'm just a car far past her prime. I'd only slow you down at that point." she chuckled.
Darrell didn't know what else to say. He hadn't expected such a response from a bloody car of all things. Maybe he judged these sentient vehicles too soon. Sure he didn't understand their thought process or terminology at times, but they truly cared about humans. Far more than themselves.
***
"December 3rd, 1976, Ffarquhar"
By this point they had been driving down the desolate roads for quite some time now. The mist made it almost impossible to tell where they were going. They had pulled over once to check on a mail van which had gone off the road into a ditch. Unfortunately the poor man within had succumbed to his injuries long ago. After a moment of silence they continued their journey through the mist and before long Caroline began to slow down.
"What's going on? Everything alright?"
"Do you hear that?" Questioned Caroline.
Darrell poked his head out the window and listened tentfully. It sounded like...talking? People, yes people! They moved carefully towards the voices and stopped near a single platform station. Darrell stepped out of Caroline to investigate, but could get a step in before stopping in his tracks.
"Who's there!" called a high pitched voice.
A group of men began walking towards them with bats, hatchets, and metal pipes.
"Woah! Woah!" called Darrell, raising his arms above his head. "We're friends! Not foes!"
The men stopped and stared the two down.
"Uh I'm Darrell and uh this is Caroline."
"Caroline?" squeaked the high pitched voice again.
Caroline's eyes widened at the familiar voice.
"Percy dear? Is that you?"
The men motioned to Darrell and he drove Caroline closer. In the goods yard was a small green tank engine coupled behind a train of trucks and coaches.
"Oh Caroline, it's wonderful to see you again!" he peeped.
Caroline smiled warmly and the two continued to chat till day turned to night. Darrell laid in the backseat thinking about everything he had gone through the past couple of days. He was focused on himself and only himself. Even when his family could have still been alive he hid in that room instead of searching for them. Maybe a part of him already knew they'd be gone. But then again with such trying times it's all for yourself. With so many conflicting feelings Darrell was glad when the overwhelming weight of sleep flushed upon him. Hopefully tomorrow can bring him some good.