“Yeah, but how are we gonna find her?” Flynn stretched his arms.
“I’ve got her address up here,” Mercy tapped her head. “Tawny pass me that pen and some paper from that clipboard—”
Tawny passed Mercy the clipboard and pen from the driver’s seat pocket. She pulled a face, “This Annalise, if she’s like us she could be useful… maybe we should try and find her—”
Mercy tore off three pieces of paper and wrote the address down. “Here, take the address so we’ve all got it. Mission Home, it’s in the mountains—”
“Yeah, it’s Appalachian Trail country up there,” Flynn nodded. “Bears and shit—”
“Bears and shit—” Mercy repeated, a smile on her face. “You’ve just condensed the whole outdoors to three words. Nice touch Flynn—”
Flynn raised his eyebrows, “Hey, it’s early and I need coffee… and I’m hungry—”
“Yeah, and I need a new rifle,” Mercy said, her voice hardening.
Flynn grimaced, “Yeah, sorry about that… I threw it off the train. In fairness you had stuck that alpha pretty good with your bayonet—”
Mercy shook her head, “No… I didn’t mean to blame you—”
Flynn pulled a dazzling smile, “Gotcha, right there, gotcha—”
Mercy laughed, “Yeah, I guess you did. Well, you are right, it was embedded in that thing’s chest, so it was difficult not to throw it over the side.”
“I’ll take that,” Flynn replied.
The sky lightened with cold morning light. Trees, interspersed with rolling countryside, sprawled on either side of the railway tracks as far as they could see. They sat in silence.
Barnes is still outside. I hope he’s OK. I should go and check on him—
“Does anyone have any idea where we are?” Tawny yawned.
Without warning the diesel engine spluttered and died, the train juddered and started to slow.
“What the fuck?” Tawny turned back to the driver’s console. “It wasn’t me, I didn’t touch a thing—”
Flynn stood up and examined the control panel. He tapped a dial, “I wasn’t sure earlier… I didn’t want to say anything but there it is. We’re out of fuel—”
The train’s speed dropped rapidly. Mercy watched the treeline on either side of the train.
“Shit, there’s a lot of trees out there,” Tawny said. “I hate trees, give me the city any day—”
Easy to get lost in there. At least Barnes has a compass and navigation skills—
The train slowed to a walking pace then ground to a halt.
“We’d better get away from here. Any local stiffs will be drawn by the sound of the train—” Flynn said, picking up his rifle.
“You don’t need to tell us. Come on let’s ditch our ride—” Tawny jumped out of the driver’s seat and made for the cabin door.
Barnes was outside on the walkway, staring at the trees. “It’s time to move out,” he said, his voice flat.
Mercy looked at Barnes. The breeze ruffled his tangled hair.
He looks like a down-and-out. Hah… that’s rich, we’re all down-and-outs now—
Barnes lowered himself to the tracks and reached up to help the others. He took a bearing with his compass and waved them on. “You go ahead, I’ll take up the rear.”
Mercy nodded, “I’ll take point, keep your eyes on our flanks.”
The grey early morning light revealed the trees in a dull monotone. A cold damp gripped the air, misting their breath. They trudged along the tracks for an hour, the trees thinned, revealing overgrown fields beyond. Mercy’s eyes darted right and left. Overgrown vineyards replaced the fields. Rows of abandoned vines were just visible above the weed choked land.
Wine country, where the hell are we?
They continued for another half an hour and came to a railway bridge over a road. Mercy stopped and crouched down. Crows were circling above the tracks two hundred yards away.
Not a good sign—
She turned to the others and pointed at the crows.
“That’s got bad news written all over it,” Tawny said.
Barnes was checking the tracks ahead with his rifle scope.
Mercy stepped up to him, “What do you see?”
Barnes grunted, “Just the crows, nothing on the tracks, no movement, no nothing—”
“What do you wanna do?” Flynn asked.
Mercy paused, “Well, that’s Charlottesville in that direction. That’s where the train’s gone. We need to keep to the rail tracks otherwise,” she looked down at the road, “we’ll get lost.”
Tawny nodded, “Agreed, I guess we proceed with caution. We should slow down and scope things out as we go.”
Mercy nodded, “OK, let’s go.”
Barnes stood up, “Man, I’m hungry, we’ve really gotta get some food, we can’t go on much longer without a break.”
Mercy looked at Barnes.
He doesn’t normally complain. He’s sweating and he looks wired, anxious even. Shit, he was using speed and god knows what else… maybe it’s early drug withdrawal. We need to find food and shelter quick, if he’s gonna crash it could be bad—
Mercy reached into her pocket and pulled out a stick of chewing gum, “I know it’s not much Barnes, but have this, I took it from one of those NSA soldiers back in the Smithsonian. You look like you could use it—”
Barnes’s eyes lit up, he took the gum and grunted, “Thanks.”
Mercy turned and continued walking along the rail tracks, her eyes on the circling crows in the distance.
What’s the difference between a raven and a crow? And a rook? Is it a murder of crows… or a parliament of crows? Or is that owls? What’s a jackdaw? What’s a magpie? Never mind, focus you idiot, they’re circling for a reason—
They advanced a hundred yards. Buildings became visible in the distance. A heavily overgrown railroad siding appeared alongside the main track. Mercy stopped and turned to Barnes, she raised an eyebrow waiting for his verdict.
Barnes knelt on one knee and peered through his rifle scope, “Abandoned train carriages on the siding ninety meters ahead. Old rail signals and some buildings in the distance. Hang on—” Barnes adjusted his scope and held his breath. “I see
