(Reverence 4, 59 / 1:05PM)

  (The Zirardge Train)

  Not even Luke nor Hope took out both of their weapons.

  Watching the man clad in black tower over them, the only person that he had his eyes on was none other than Luna. Her entire body trembling, her legs losing the strength to walk, her elbows loosened from their joints and her arms felt like jello.

  With the two metals clashing between one another, sparks and embers screamed and shone on the surface of the metal walls. Smoke filled up the train compartment, Luke and Hope sniffed once before walking back slowly to the door.

  But glancing at Luna, he picked her up to place her onto his back.

  And while doing so, he took out both of his uzis, as Luna’s fingers dug deep into his chest to carry herself onto him.

  (Luke) Run Hope! Let’s get out of here!

  As Hope sprinted to the second train compartment, Luke placed both of his fingers on their triggers while backward running. Seeing that Kenichi was walking toward them, Luke grit both his upper and lower teeth, letting his fingers sink deep into the metal.

  Causing both barrels of his guns to blaze the air.

  Raising both of his dual-wielding chainsaw blades, Kenichi used the chains to split the bullets in half or direct them into the nearby walls. Lifting his chainsawed blades like pieces of paper, the swift motion of his slices cut the air as if he were slicing cake.

  Luckily for Luke, he reached the door between the third and second train cart.

  Turning his body back, he noticed Benn and Jack sleeping on the ground, with Hope trying to pull Benn to the front train cart. Seeing Sean still trying to load in whatever money he found in the vault, his right brow furrowed as he saw Luke’s face plastered in sweat.

  (Sean) Hey, what’s the matter, Luke?!

  (Luke) What are you doing!? Just run!

  Stepping foot into the second train cart, Kenichi coldly stared into the depths of Sean’s soul.

  Sucking in whatever air that situated inside of his throat, Sean pushed it down into the deepest part of his airways. Dropping a bag of gold coins from his hands, he quickly pulled out his Thompson, his finger already on the trigger.

  Spraying all of the bullets in the chamber, the train cart lit up as Kenichi soon raised both of his blades again. Slicing and dicing all of the bullets that Sean shot, the air itself pushed Sean to take a step back while firing.

  (Sean’s thoughts) Come on Luke! Get them out of here!

  Seeing Hope dragging Benn, Luke made eye contact with Hope before nudging his head to the red-haired man who swiftly slept. With a single nod, Hope ran toward Jack, putting both of her hands onto his shoulders and pulling him to the door, her upper body relaxing more as Jack was far lighter than Benn.

  With Luna on his back, Luke grabbed Benn’s collar before using all the strength in his body to pull him out. The firing of his Thompson ceasing, Sean holstered it back into his jacket before grabbing the coin bag that he dropped.

  Sprinting to the front cart, Sean noticed Miles, Elizabeth, and Johnny all standing in front of Doug who lay down near the edge of the train. Waving his hand, he got the three of their attention.

  (Sean) Hey! We have to leave right now!

  (Miles) Got it!

  Coming out of the train cart, Hope managed to pull Jack out, leading Sean to run to her and the sleepless young man. Carrying him with both of his arms, he rushed to the others, not looking back as sweat drenched every part of his body.

  As for Hope, she clenched both of her hands together as if she were praying, gazing at the dark room while standing in front of the door. Her breath shallow, she didn’t pay the others any mind while they ran to the circuit board of the train.

  (Hope’s thoughts) Please come out Luke.

  Her heart beating out of her chest, she could hear the rapid thumping that chiseled her earlobes. Holding her breath, she took a step forward, ignoring the thundering footsteps that jingled in back of her.

  Then came Luke.

  But instead of walking out of the train cart, it seemed as if…

  He flew out of the compartment.

  Holding onto Benn, while Luna held onto Luke, all three of them tumbled out of the cart like a couple of ragdolls. Hitting the back of his head against one of the metal crates, Luke shut his eyes while opening his mouth and moving his jaw from the pain.

  Steaming out the stress with his hissing lips, he raised his right hand onto the bruised area of his head, rubbing it with his fingers as he felt it stinging his skull. Almost like it was stabbing him, he dropped his hand to the metal floor, his hand near Luna who was clinging to him with wide eyes.

  Eyes that saw her grim reaper.

  His chainsaws still clashing against the metal, he looked down at Luna, Luke, and Benn, in which Benn barely managed to wake up from his unconscious slumber. Opening his eyes, he had his mouth sealed shut, along with every muscle in his body to freeze upon seeing the dual-wielding chainsawed man.

  (Benn) What now Fenix?

  Even Luke froze by just analyzing the chainsaw-wielding man.

  Holding onto Luna’s hand, she clutched back firmly, her fingers locking and wrapping into his. Analyzing upon analyzing the number of embers that chunked out from the chains, he stared deep into the light that was encapsulated in his eyes.

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  (Luke’s thoughts) I’m not the best in combat … and Luna is practically suffering from PTSD from him … so …

  Letting go of Luna’s hand, Luke slowly stood up with both heels of his feet, while having his hands raised up to the height of his shoulders. Closing his hands into fists, his eyes largened from fear, yet his feet stood him unshaken.

  (Luke’s thoughts) I have to set an example as a leader to them, even if I’m practically the weakest male in the group.

  His breathing in control, Luke slid his right foot back, as he watched any movement along Kenichi’s arms, hands, legs, feet, chest, or even—

  The embers of the clashing chains ceased.

  Putting them back in the inside of his black jacket, Kenichi scurried his slightly wrinkled fingers around his holsters. Taking out a simple rope, the rope was long enough to hold a dozen people, and upon gazing his eyes down at Luke, Benn, and Luna…

  (Kenichi) He told me to take you all in alive; with Luke being a dead or alive case. If you disobey, you will get cut or shot by me or him.

  Several barrels locked onto Kenichi’s body. Their fingers on the side of their guns, their bones and knuckles hardened under the soup air that tainted the metals with their water.

  In the center of the group, Miles had both of his sawed-off shotguns ready and loaded, as Sean and Christian stood on his right. With Pacifica and Chris standing to his left, Miles cleared his throat, placed both of his feet together, and tilted his head up.

  (Miles) I don’t think you understand here. We’re leaving this train, no matter what your boss says.

  (Doug) And I say; try.

  The sound of a trench gun being reloaded can be heard in the back of them. Unable to turn around, Miles continued to keep his aim at Kenichi, yet his eyes glanced at the back of Doug who now aimed his gun at him.

  Not only that but a woman with turquoise-colored hair the same as Doug pushed herself off of the ground. Holding her stomach, her breaths were loaded with metal that stretched from her blood and leftover remnants of cigars.

  (Doug) You need to rest now Viv. Don’t push yourself.

  (Vivy) I need to heal … I need Rimy.

  (Doug) She’s in the second compartment, but I don’t think she would…

  Crawling out of the second cart, a short-haired woman wearing a flat cap and thin jacket grazed her nails on the metallic floor. Her cheek smoldering the surface, drool and blood mixed to leave a trail that dripped from her right lip. Along with her stomach pouring out an excess of blood, she looked up to see the rope that Kenich had in his hands, her mouth churning up to form a smile.

  (Doug) Despite how she looks, she might end up shooting you if you plan to fight. If you promise to surrender yourselves to us.

  Both sawed-off shotguns that Miles wielded began to tremble softly. His finger moved to the side of the gun, his head tilted down, his eyes grazing the floor while biting down inside of his left cheek.

  Christian lowered his Thompson down to the ground, pointing the barrel to the floor while gulping down whatever dry saliva was inside his throat. As for Pacifica and Chris, Chris softly placed his Mauser pistol on the metal floor, while raising his other hand. Since Pacifica had no gun, she raised both of her open-palm hands to the height of her shoulders, looking down without seeing Miles or Sean’s eyes.

  Like a domino effect, Miles finally lowered his weapons, holstering them back inside his hips.

  (Sean) What are you doing Miles?

  (Miles) Don’t you see the man standing in front of us? If he’s fast enough to deflect bullets, then he’s deadly enough to slaughter all of us without a second thought. Besides, there’s a good chunk of barrels pointing at us.

  (Christian) Take it from him, Sean. From the looks of it, our option of fighting has been replaced with death.

  Luke lowered his hands to the height of his stomach, his knuckles facing Kenichi while the back of his boots grazed the metal crate. Noticing Benn do the same thing, Benn rubbed his knuckles with his thumb, feeling the round and unrigid bones that he was born with.

  Slowly walking toward them with the colossal rope hay rope in his hands, he towered over Luke himself. Bringing down some of the rope from its clumped-up ball state, Kenichi took out a simple pocket knife from his black jacket. Slashing the rope three times, there was a wide enough string of hay to hold three separate people.

  Using his fingers, he nudged the three to come forward. Luke and Benn, obliging to Kenichi’s request, cast their heads down as the afternoon sun shone onto the back of their necks.

  (Luke’s thoughts) There’s gotta be a way to get out of this…

  Unluckily for them, a short-haired female guard raised the helm of her sniper onto the edge of the crate. Her right eye indulging in the minuscule scope of her Springfield rifle, her breathing hardened, and reeked of metal and iron.

  Her aim; was the ginger-haired elf who still pointed his gun at the man clad in all black.

  Noticing a long barrel being pointed at him, Sean slowly lowered his gun. Unable to look at the others, he scrunched up his eyes and quenched his breath.

  While Kenichi began tying Benn and Luke first.

  (Benn’s thoughts) I guess there is no way, huh Fenix…

  Gazing his eyes down at the stuttering woman, Kenichi lowered his body to kneel on the floor. Wrapping the rope around Luna’s frozen body, she closed her eyes, and thoughts from the past soon blistered and warped her mind like a tsunami of memories.

  As if her life flashed before her eyes, yet there was no danger.

  Birthdays, hangouts, homework, teachers, friends, boy bands, brothers, father, shopping.

  Then the fall.

  Swords, blood, strength, training, comrades, David; Luke.

  Everything played out in single order, with every memory taking up a microsecond in the reality in which she faced. Opening her eyes, she saw the man clad in all black standing up, his eyes shriveling up her body from the toe up.

  Before the fall, he took everything from her, and even now, he’s taking everything back from her again.

  Unable to push up with both of her numb feet, she continued to keep her gaze on Kenichi, as his left hand soon grabbed the end of the rope she was wrapped in. Pulling her up like a handbag, he also dragged Luke and Benn, their lower bodies all clutching to the dirt and water on the floor.

  (Kenichi) Let’s hurdle them up like cattle Doug.

  (Doug) Sounds good to me. Get me some rope will ya, I could help you tie them up while Rimy keeps an eye on them.

  Taking the three of them to the center of the front train cart, he dumped them right in front of Miles and everyone. While Hope and the sleeping Jack sat near the edge of the train, Kenichi’s eyes glanced at the two of them, her pushed-up eyes causing him to sway his head softly. Wielding the colossal rope with his left hand, he cut seven pieces of rope, his dull pocket knife blade cleaving off any weak metal on the handle.

  Tossing five pieces of rope to Doug, Kenichi began walking toward Hope and Jack, his eyes trailing the sleeping red-haired man whose eyes remained shut off. Tying up Miles, Chris, Pacifica, Christian, and then Sean in that exact order, both Rimy and Vivy watched from opposite ends of the cart to watch every muscle that moved. Both their eyes on the verge of closing off, Vivy shook her head twice, while Rimy slapped her cheek with her left hand.

  (Doug) That should do it.

  Dragging Hope and Jack who were already tied up with the hay rope, both of their calves and boots grazed against the metal. Dropping them off next to Luke, Benn, and Luna, Miles and the others soon knelt beside them, all of their faces staring at the metal or up at the daytime sky.

  Another woman, a wrinkled woman with blood streaming off from her lips, walked out of the second train compartment.

  Seeing the woman, Doug raised his hand to wave, causing the woman to limp her way to him. Her right foot dragging on the metal floor, Rimy also did the same, except she began crawling her way to Doug as well.

  As they slowly reached toward them, Doug looked at none other than Benn, whose eyes began to slant inward to form a glare.

  (Doug) You look familiar to a certain shark-human that I know.

  Benn slowly tilted his head upward to look at the chubby-faced man.

  The rope stabbing itself straight into Benn’s stomach, causing him to bite down onto his lower lip while looking to the right side of the train. Not making eye contact with Doug, the chubby man took two steps forward, his body shadowing the shark-human.

  (Doug) Your kind knows him the most. Kirk The Shark-Human. The beast-human that started the demi-human skirmishes almost 30 years ago. Now tell me, Benn? Do your friends know about your past?

  Everyone turned to look at Benn, their heads tilted to the left or right with their brows furrowed upward. Except for Jack who slept, and for Luna who continued to deeply stare into the metal floor, Luke was right beside Benn who started to clench both of his teeth shut.

  Both his upper and lower enamels all grinding and sparking against one another, Benn had his lips closed shut while looking up at the smirking Doug.

  Wielding his trench gun with both of his hands, Doug’s fingers loosened from the wooden part of the gun.

  (Doug) Your friend here isn’t your typical shark-human. When reading his files, there was a lot of black, but we decoded a simple relative you’re related to.

  Luke stared deep into Benn’s face, while the shark-human only looked down to avoid both his and Doug’s gazes. Continuing to bite down on his lip, a small trace of blood spurred into his mouth, leading it to moisten and paint some of his teeth red.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Wait … can Benn be …

  Pushing the trench gun onto his right shoulder, Doug used the palm of his right hand to hold the butt of his weapon. His smirk reached up to the height of his ears, and his pupils shrank without the need of the bright rays above, whilst cocking his head to the right.

  As both Rimy and Betty finally reached the group.

  (Doug) Born 28 years ago. The start of the skirmishes was also 28 years ago. Coincidence, I think not.