Children Of Fiends - Part 2 A Nation By Another Name: An Of Sudden Origin Novella Read Online Free PDF

creatures had literally been shot to pieces. Not unlike the way that Corporal Gomez and Kneedham had met their end aboard the Ginger Girl.   The tree bark beyond was torn from explosive bullet hits. He looked at the trees behind him and saw heaps of spent shell casings on the ground. Precise looking holes in the tree trunks instantly brought to mind the marks that the spider-like drones had left in the hull of his ship. BRAAANGH! He was jolted nearly out of his clothes as a loud and deep train whistle sounded. He instinctively dove, finding himself belly down on the soft wet ground, one of the rotting skulls right in front of his face. Cursing as the whistle blew again, he got up and ran toward the museum, scanning as best he could, keying his mic, “Blakely! Blakely!”
    He got to the museum at the same moment that the tail of the big black locomotive slipped out of its glass and steel building. Thick steam shot past its wheels and dense white smoke poured from the stack. Many of the crew were there and they hollered in delight as Wen Blakely waved from the engineering compartment, giving the whistle one more toot. With a mixture of awe, pleasure and deep frustration, Dean waved his arms frantically at Blakely, “Stop blowing that fucking whistle, you idiot!”. Wen saw him waving and let a frown cross his face, his hand dropping from the pull chain. A second later, MacAfee and Dez came running from the riverbank, MacAfee screaming, “Why? Why the fucking whistle?”
    Wen, Naoto Kitta and Abner Lee brought the train to a halt, all three wearing sheepish grins. Wen said, “Easier than I would have ever thought. This beauty runs like a dream. Sorry about the noise, just excited is all.”
    While pointing behind him, Dean addressed everyone at once. “Helmet up! We are not alone. There are dead pucks in the forest over there. Shot dead within the last couple of weeks. Certainly the same folks who were sailing the Eagle.”
    Hansel and Gretel turned as one to stare at the forest, a mixture of curiosity and fear crossing their faces. Everyone became instantly alert. MacAfee barked, “Dez, back on perimeter, now!” He clicked his mic. “KK, Green, you see anything?” He waited for them to report seeing no movement and then flipped up his visor, staring at Hansel.Hansel shrugged, “I have already said they are.”
    “Well, I don’t know what the fuck that means! How fucking close are they?” hissed MacAfee.
    Both replied. “We told Dusty MacAfee. He told Stewart Dean. We said they are.”
    “What does ‘they are’ mean?” Eliza asked with patience.
    Hansel looked at Gretel and smiled mischievously. She smiled back, but then turned serious, saying, “We are not sure. We can just feel them.”
    Eliza asked, “Why have you not just said that?”
    Hansel looked around and said, “They are. It is everywhere. We can feel it.”
    Dean said, “It doesn’t matter now. We either rang the fucking dinner bell, called in the bad guys or both. We need to load up and get out of here as fast as we can.”

    Set up for pleasure excursion rides, the Norfolk & Western 1218 had a coal/water tender, but there was an extra canteen tender (for additional water), also on display in the museum. There were three luxury passenger cars and a dinning car with an observation deck. It all needed to be connected. Gear was still piled outside with Palmer overseeing where it should all go. Dean barked out to Palmer, “Just chuck that shit onboard!” He turned to Sanders and pointed to the still yet to be loaded pile of wood. “Up into the coal car. Quick about it.”
    Forty minutes later Wen had the 1218 chugging south with Sergeant Green running and leaping to be the last onboard. Given that they had no way to know what lay ahead, Wen, Kitta and Lee took turns looking ahead while keeping the boiler hot with a steady stream of wood. The engine had an auto loader that shifted coal from the tender to the fire, but the assortment of wood was