The Engineer

The Engineer 2: Back on Track By Twisted Zero

Chapter 3:

Derrek stood on the porch, holding his sleeping girlfriend when her father opened the door to see who'd rung the doorbell. His mouth fell open in surprise at what he saw through the screen door. Derrek looked up at him with an expression that had an overwhelming amount of emotions in it. But mostly dread.

With the exception of Tino, the rest of us were in Bluestreak's car, going back to our homes. Tino had stayed back to clean up the house as well as he could. We got Paul home in a silent twenty minutes. Everyone was too deep in their own thoughts to talk. That happened a lot around here.

Paul got out and came to my door, leaning down. Streak and I looked at him.

"I don't know exactly what's goin' on," he started. "I don't even know you guys all the well. But I know enough about you that I'm willing to help you guys stop him if that's what you're planning on. In fact, if that truly is the plan, I demand you let me help. Just...let me know. Either way."

Streak looked back to the street and I nodded at Paul. He patted the door and turned to his home, allowing us to leave. There was another few minutes of quiet before Bluestreak broke it.

"I'm gonna go see how Floyd's doin'," he said. I nodded.

"He's not gonna want to hear it," I said. Bluestreak sighed as he pulled up to a 4-way stop.

"I know. But we'll need him." He looked at me and I at him.

"I'll talk to Tin," I said. Bluestreak continued down the street. Then I added, "And my dad."

Tino was in the living room, grabbing the last few cups from the table by the couch when the phone rang. He quickly dropped the items in the big ol' trash can kept in the living room during the parties and grabbed the cordless phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Tino! What's up, Kid?" came the jovial greeting from his father.

"Hey, dad!" Tino responded, happily, "You back home?"

"You bet, Kid. Just came into the station about half an hour ago. I'll be home in a few -- I gotta get my schedule and all."

"Great!" said Tino. "Any idea how soon you're goin' back out?"

"No, not yet. Phil said somethin' about it, but I wasn't really payin' attention."

"Alright. Well, hurry back. The house is clean an' everything!"

"Yeah, I bet it is, 'cause my kid doesn't have parties when his pop's outta town," said his dad, smiling louder than he was talking.

"Yeah, I know, cough, cough, bullshit, cough," said Tino. His father laughed.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Tino," he said.

"I'll be here, dad," said Tino.

"Bye," his dad started, but Tino stopped him.

"Oh, dad -- " he started.

"What's that?"

"Be careful."

"Always, Kid. I'll see ya, O.K.?"

"Yeah. Bye," and with that, they hung up.

Bluestreak and I got to my house and were greeted with an interesting sight; my father, sitting on the edge of the front porch, his feet resting on the bottom step. Streak and I looked at each other. The plan had originally been for him to drop me off and go see Floyd, but seeing as how my dad was holding in his hands one of the X-shaped railroad crossing signs that the Engineer had stuck in the front wall of our house a few months ago, we decided we'd both go see what was up. Streak parked the car in the driveway behind my dad's jeep and we walked up to my dad.

"What's up?" I asked.

"He's back," said my dad, still playing with the sign. "I saw him."

"You did?" asked Bluestreak. My dad looked up at us.

"Let's go inside," he said. Without a word, we followed as my dad led us into the house. We went into the kitchen and sat at the table, and my dad got each of us a Coke from the fridge. Yum. Coke. (I lie.) Anyway, dad popped his open and sat down with us.

"I saw him four days ago," he started. "But it was only for an instant and it was off to side, outta the corner of my eye, so I figured it was just my imagination and I immediately put it out of my mind. But then, yesterday, at about six o'clock I was on my way back from the store and I got stopped by a train. However," he paused to take a drink, "this was no ordinary train. At first it wasn't even there, but you could hear it comin', and make no mistake, I was not the only car there to witness this event. There were two behind me and three on the other side. But this train, it just comes blastin' through. I mean, we heard it coming, and it didn't sound at all out of the ordinary, but as soon as it appeared from around the bend, it was doin', like, mach five. And then, as if that weren't bizarre enough, it just stopped.I mean, the wheels all locked and quit moving, and the engine stopped. It only slid about a foot when the wheels locked. It stayed that way for about a minute. I looked both ways, but all I could see was cars -- train cars, I mean. No beginning, no end." Bluestreak and I just looked at each other. "Oh, that's not even the good part," said my dad, "Then, outta nowhere, all of the wheels on all of the cars started spinning, top speed. The train didn't start moving, or anything; just spinning wheels, which is one of the most ear-piercing, rattling screeches you've ever heard. Then he showed up. I don't know how he got there, because I was too busy watching the wheels, but he was on the roof of the train car that was right in the middle of the crossing. I wouldn't have known he was there if he hadn't yelled. I mean, he's up there and just goes 'Damn, that sound is annoying! Knock it off!" and the wheels stopped spinning. Then he threw his head back and yelled 'Riverwind! I...am...back!' and then, without any kind of a warning, This fire shot up from -- well, from the ground, I guess. I couldn't really tell, but it blazed up to the height of the train, all the way down the line in both directions. It lasted for, like, two seconds and then boom."

"Boom?" Streak and I asked in unison.

"'Boom'," my dad reiterated. "The whole damn thing went damn near lightspeed, and that is not a metaphor. Haley stayed put where he was, but the train was flying by underneath him. Then there was this white flash and the train was gone, with not really an explosion, but a sound so thunderous that you'd have to combine every pulse in the Washington, D.C. Fourth of July Grand Finale into one big bang to even attempt to compare it to anything. And then everything was fine."

"'Fine'?" asked Streak, but it sounded more like a statement.

"Everything was back to normal," dad confirmed. "In fact, I got a name a phone number of all the people who saw it. I couldn't leave knowing there were witnesses that could back up my story." This was too much. I took a second to let it all register in my head.

"He did all that??" I asked, out of sheer awe. My dad just nodded. "But--" I started, but Bluestreak interrupted.

"Like I said," he interjected, with an almost ominous tone, "'Powering up'." My dad got a bit of a confused look.

"Dad," I said, responding to his expression, "We knew he was back. We found out last night."

"How?" he asked, detting worrried.

"We went to Salk Valley and saw his train," I said. I could tell he was about to say something, but I kept talking to block him off. "Look, Tino's dad is an engineer, and he'd seen some weird stuff on the tracks, so he asked us to take him to Salk Valley so he could see for himself if the guy was really dead because he'd heard that it was us who stopped him." My dad seemed to be listening and uninterruptive, so I continued at a slower pace. "When we got there, the train showed up, coming at us from the dirt road. But instead of hitting us, it just went on through. It was almost invisible, but we could see it well enough to think we were dead, and we could certainly hear it and feel how cold it got. But then it just drove down into the burial thing. And we left. That's all. O.K.?"

He sighed. "Yeah," he said. "O.K." He finished off his Coke and set the can back down on the table with a thunk. "The question is... What do we do?"

"We talked about that last night," I said. "And we don't know. But we did agree that we're gonna fight him."

"O.K...," my dad started, "But how?" Bluestreak started to say something, but the phone rang and interrupted him. Dad got up and answered it.

"Hello? Yeah. What--what's wrong? What?! I'll be right over! Bye." He turned and looked at Streak. "You have any plans for today?"

"Nope," he answered.

"Then come with us -- Derrek and Sheila were attacked."

It was six o'clock, and my dad and Father Breaker were still in the den. Streak had left at about two, leaving me and Derrek in the living room and Mrs. Breaker upstairs, watching over her still sleeping daughter. We'd pretty much talked about everything we could talk about, and were simply sitting there, not wanting to continue going over the same thing, just repeaqting ourselves a thousand times with different words. He'd told me the whole thing, and I told him what my dad had told me. There was really nothing more to be discussed, and so we were sitting there with the tv on, not really paying attention to it. Then, outta nowhere, he spoke again.

"This is exactly why I told her I didn't want her 'helping' this time," he said, looking up at me only after he'd said it. "He's got some kinda...link with her. A grip on her mind, or something. And I don't know how to fight that."

"None of us do," I told him, though I doubt it was of any assurance. It was then that Harry and my dad entered the room and sat down.

"We've done a lot of talking," said the preacher, "and we've come to a decision." Derrek and I sat up, awaiting the plan of attack. Taking a deep breath, Harry continued. "We know you boys aren't quite eighteen yet, but we find you all to be quite capable of deciding for yourselves wether or not you want to face this enemy a second time. No one will think you a coward if you should decline, or think any less of you at all. However, we need to know right now if you're in or out."

"Somebody has to do it," I said.

"And it's not gonna be anybody else," Derrek added, grimly.

"I'll take those as 'yes'es," said Father Breaker, smiling slightly. "Now, we're perfectly willing to devise a plan to fend off this menace, but we need to know how many people we can count on to face him."

"Paul said he won't allow us to fight Haley without his help," I said.

"And I refuse to help if your daughter has anything to do with it," said Derrek.

"Don't worry, my boy," said Harry, turning quickly to Derrek, "Sheila's place for now is her room, until we're certain she's alright. As for your friend -- Paul.... What does he know of this?" Derrek and I looked at each other.

"Haley killed his brother," I said. Harry nodded.

"Give him a ring," he said. "Tell him his assistance his welcome."

"What about Jason and Floyd?" asked my dad.

"I could hardly ask any more of Jason," Harry said to my dad. "His physical loss alone for my daughter is more than I can ever repay."

"Bluestreak's already in," I said. "He went to go see if he can talk Floyd into helping."

"What about that cab driver kid?" dad asked. "It was his thinkin' that levelled the Engineer last time."

"Aaron," I said, reminding my father of the cabbie's name, "I have his number at home."

"We'll have to call him," my dad said.

"I've got Paul's number," said Derrek, "I'll go call him now."

"Good idea," said Harry, and Derrek left the room. "Do you know Aaron's last name?" the preacher asked me.

"Masters," I said.

"Then look his number up and call him from here tonight," he suggested. "It's not worth the risk to go back to your house."

"Sounds good to me," I said, not about to argue with him.

Aaron was speeding through the streets of Riverwind, in a terrified panic. He was being chased in a very akward way. Everytime he crossed a railroad, his cab would be pushed one way or the other, either left or right, as if there was actually a wall moving in and sliding it sideways. It almost appeared as if there was a hurricane-strength wind along every railway that was pushing his car when he'd come across, forcing him to gun the engine and go super fast to get across and onto the road on the other side. Sure, the logical solution would be to simply stop driving. Well, the thing is, if he did decide to stop, The Engineer would step off the tracks and chase him down the street. And, seeing as how the passenger side of his cab was still smashed from his first attack, Aaron's lat item on the to-do list was to let good ol' Mike Haley get a hold of him a second time.

His only hope was to find me. I don't know why, exactly; but I was the only one he could think of to get to as he sped through the city streets.

"I've been throwing up for three days. I just finished a bottle of Pepto for dinner. And now you bring me this?" asked Floyd, sitting on the end of his bed, facing Bluestreak who was sitting at the other. "Tell me.... What are you thinking?"

"C'mon, Floyd, where else are we supposed to go?" asked Bluestreak.

"Healthy people?" he suggested. "And people who like fighting the vengeful dead?"

Floyd was sitting on the foot of his bed, his right leg tucked under him Indian style and his left leg dangling off the bed. He was wearing sweats and a T-shirt and was wrapped in a blanket. He was a little pale, but had much more color than the past few days. Plus, he was sitting up; a true sign of his revival. Unfortuneatly, he was still feeling poorly enough to revert to a solid Floydian attitude and just say "No" to any plea for help that Bluestreak could throw at him.

Realising he wasn't going to get anywhere, Bluestreak lowered his vision to the floor.

"Well," he said, getting up and making his way to Floyd's bedroom door. He then looked around Floyd's room, avoiding eye contact. "If you get to feelin' better...." he started, then thought better of it and looked him in the eye. "Feel better, Floyd," he said, and walked out, closing the door behind him. As the door shut, Floyd felt a wave of guilt wash over him and frustatedly fell back on the bed, letting out a harsh sigh.

A little disappointed, and because of it, a little depressed, Bluestreak backed out of Floyd's driveway and headed back to the household Breaker. The streetlights slid over his car, giving it a flash-like stream of light that was almost hypnotic. Streak was already mildly downed about Floyd's lack of gumption, but that, combined with driving alone with the radio off made for quite an entrancing ride. Plus, it had been a fairly long day, and it was only 6:30.

He didn't even hear the cab coming up behind him until it would've been too late. He did, however, register the sound of the cab's tires squealing when it was pushed along the rails and forces to peel out to try to swerve itself back onto the street. At the sound of rubber on metal, he looked up into his rear view mirror and his jaw dropped.

The cab swung back onto the street at such an angle that Aaron had to swerve again in the opposite direction and ended up fishtailng his car and rear-ended Streak's Lincoln anyway. At first, Bluestreak didn't know what was going on, nor did he even try to recognize the cab driver. Instead, he was pissed and openned his door, stepping out. He held his arms out and said "What's wro--" but Aaron stuck his head out of his window and yelled at him interrupting.

"Don't stop! Get back in your car!" he yelled, terrified. Bluestreak squinted.

"Aaron?" he asked, confused.

"B-Bluestreak?!" asked Aaron, still panicking.

"What're --"

"Get back in the car!"

The wind picked up for a second and Haley appeared on the streets, a grim laugh escaping his mouth and echoing throughout the streets. Bluestreak's eyes wer immediately fixated on the ghost and damn near bugging out of his skull.

"Holy--"

"Get in the fuckin' car!!!" screamed Aaron, prompting Bluestreak to leap into his vehicle and take off, Aaron following close behind.

"Two of ya?" the Engineer asked, pleasantly surprised. "That's more excercise than I expected." He then vanished from the tracks just as quickly as he'd appeared.

Bluestreak continued speeding down the streets, with Aaron right behind him. There were two sets of tracks between the'ye current location and the Breakers' home. They cam upon the first set relatively soon. Once over it, Bluestreak's car received the same kind of shove that Aaron's had been. He quickly pulled out of it and got back on the road. Aaron's car took the same hit but from the other side. He, too, swung out of the blow, and was back in control of his car in no time.

They passed three intersections with no problems, not even any traffic. They were coming to the last set of tracks. It was about fifty yards ahead, and the bars on the signals dropped like cement. This was the first set to do that all night. Bluestreak had few options: ram the bar or try to swerve around it. In order to save his car, the latter was his prime choice. He floored the gas and charged the bar but then swerved went around it. However, with the momentum of his swerve and the push of the invisible force on the tracks, he ended up being on the tracks, purpendicular to the street. He kept his foot on the gas, spinning out, doing his best to gain enough speed to get out of the force that was pushing his car. This gave Aaron even worse options; ram the bar and keep on going, or try to knock Bluestreak loose. Wonderful.

With seconds to spare, Aaron revved his engine and intended to nail Bluestreak's front quarter panel, with the intent of straightening him out so they could both be on their merry way. But then, just as Aaron was turning his wheels, a whole mess of about seven reflective non-bar crossing signs shot up from the ground and basically uppercutted the taxi, launching it at an angle that damn near rolled it. On the upside, the front of the taxi smashed into Streak's car right between the quarter panel and the passenger door. It crumpled both cars pretty good, but it also stablized the cab back onto its wheels and straighten out Streak's car. After a second of sliding and peeling out, they were off again, though only for a minute. The cars were struck with a bolt of black electricty; first the cab then the Lincoln. Immediately, they both shut down. Aaron and Bluestreak looked back and saw the Engineer standing on the tracks, holding his hand up in the air.

"You boys sure can drive, y'know that?" he asked, still smiling. "You make for great excercise. And trust me, after two-hundred and ten days of chargin' up, I needed a good work-out before the big sha-bang."

As I'm sure you can imagine, right about here is where at least one of either Aaron or Bluestreak would've asked "What big sha-bang?", had they not been in mild shock, as well as acceptance of the fact that they were about to die. But how wrong they were. Haley simply cracked his knuckles and stretched his back.

"Thanks, fellas," he said. "I'll see ya 'round, I'm sure of it." And with that he vanished. After about ten seconds, Bluestreak and Aaron made the subconcious yet simultaneous decision to start their cars and slowly go to Harry's house. They arrived there only minutes later. Bluestreak knocked and opened the door, letting himself in, Aaron following, both of them seemingly robotic, still dealing with the idea that they could have sworn they were going to die and yet were spared for appearnatly no reason. They walked in the living room just as I was getting up to go into the kitchen and call Aaron's cell phone. I stopped perfectly still when I saw them.

"That is really creepy timing," I said, surprised to see them. We all just kinda looked at each other for a sec, then, in a shaky voice, Bluestreak spoke.

"I was right," he said, softly, "He was charging up," he continued, pausing for a moment to swallow before he continued. "But we've got a problem," he said, and Aaron closed his eyes, knowing what was coming. "He's got a plan."

Becky had just finished putting the last load of laundry into the washer and plopped down on the living room couch with a piece of pizza and a Pepsi. She set the can and the plate on the end table and picked up the remote. She was flipping through the channels, hoping to end up on the Cartoon Network in awaiting Adult Swim, but as she passed a local network, she did a double-take and went right back to it. The scene before her was a familiar one.

Celine Corrin, local reporter for Channel 12 News, was standing outside the Portsmythe Station; the train station of Riverwind.

"...everal months ago was shut down entirely, disallowing any transportation for passengers, be it for business or pleasure, to or from the town. In addition, both the Johnston and Haley-Madison rail depots were forced to close, eliminating the trasportation of materials, including steel, rubber, machinery and even diamonds, through this normally abundant 'train town'. Now, seven months after the mysterious incidents have appearantly ceased, things are running just as always. But the questiona still remain: were these accidents simply a streak of terrible bad luck? Or was it more; was it really the vengeful wrath of the legendary ghost of one Michael Haley? We may never truly know. But tonight, we look at the facts -- and the fiction -- and then...you decide."

Becky's eyes were bugged out of her head and her jaw was dropped. She hadn't touched her dinner.

The phone started ringing at the Breakers' house. Harry got up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Breaker!" came Beck'y frantic voice.

"Rebecca?" he asked, concerned. "What is it, dear?"

"Turn on your tv!" she said, "Channel 12!!"

"But what--"

"Now! Hurry!!" And with that, Harry spun around, picked up the remote and turned on the television across the room, switching it quickly to the station in demand. Everyone looked to it. And, in a very disturbed silence, we all took in the sight before us. Celine Corrin was interviewing a man outside the station. A young man, about 20-something. We could only see from about his stomach up, but he was wearing a pinkish/purple shirt and had a purplish bandana tied around his neck. He was holding an old engineer's hat in his hands.

"...Yeah, I'd say it was pretty dangerous," he said, answering a question we hadn't heard.

"Were you scared at all during the events?" she asked. He appeared thoughtful.

"Mmm... I wouldn't say 'scared', really," he responded. "More concerned for everyone's well-being."

This was insane. We all just looked on in terror, not making any sounds or movements. I don't even remember if I was breathing.

"And what about your fellow engineers?" she asked. "What was the general atmosphere among your co-workers?" The guy looked at his feet for a moment, chuckling, then looked back at her.

"Oh, I don't have any co-workers," he said, smiling. "See, the reason I know it was Mike Haley haunting the rails a while back, is because I /am/ Mike Haley." Celine got a confused look.

"W-..what?" was all she could say in response to his information. He looked her dead in the eye.

"Just get on the train, Celine," he said, brushing her off. She immeadiately lowered the microphone and turned toward the station. Haley, however, turned toward the camera. "As for you guys," he said, turning his apathetic expression into one of irritance, "and you know who you are," he dded, then went back to his apathetic appearance, "I have a much better plan to grab Riverwind's attention. In fact, I admit, last time I was just being extremely random and nonmethodical. But this time...oh, this time, I got a helluva scheme all worked out. So please, try an' stop me. In fact, I'm beggin' ya to. I might even get to pick a few of you meddlin' kids off while we're at it." he smiled. "I can't wait to see your faces," he finished, then, with that, there was an flash as long as a fraction of a second where Haley's face was no longer the handsome young man, but that of his rotten, grotesque form. Then the screen went black.

We all just kinda stood there, staring at the blank screen. About a minute later, Becky said "I'm coming over," but before Harry could snap back to reality and protest her desicion, she'd hung up the phone. Derrek looked back at him, slowly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, kinda monotone.

"Rebecca says she's coming over," said Harry, quietly. Derrek sighed.

"Dammit," he said. "I'll try to meet her halfway. Everyone else just stay here, I'll be back as quick as I can." Harry just nodded.

"Godspeed," he said, still mostly stunned.

Derrek said "Thanks," then grabbed his jacket and walked out.

Stay tuned for the next exciting edition of "The Engineer 2: Back on Track"!