Inside The Wagons

As I made my way across the top of the train, I tried to distribute my weight as evenly as possible to avoid making any noise. But it was difficult to stay balanced on a fast-moving train. I had to find out where the prisoners were being held by carefully making my way over the wagons.

When I looked over to where Lena was, I saw that she had managed to get inside the train. She was calling out to the people inside and giving orders. Since she was an elite soldier, the ordinary soldiers of the Epic would follow her commands. My plan was to follow her from above and find out where the prisoners were being held. Then I would create a distraction and get them out of there.

Thinking about my situation for a moment, I muttered quietly to myself, "Next time I'll take the easy assignments."

The windows of the train were covered with iron bars, making it impossible for me to get in that way. The entrances on the roof were locked from the inside and the doors between the carriages had special keyed locks. Only someone with a key could get in and it wasn't hard to guess who had it.

I was sure that Tag, the other elite soldier, had the key. But I didn't expect Lena to take it from him and give it to me. She must have had some other plan in mind. As I leaned in slightly to hear their conversation, I heard Lena telling Tag that the epic had sent her to reinforce the railway. Most of what she said was a lie, but as long as it worked for us, I was fine with it.

I couldn't hear their entire conversation due to the wind and noise outside. But when it was over, I heard the sound of footsteps moving towards the carriage door. It was clear that there was more than one soldier inside. When they opened the door and moved to the next carriage, I continued to follow them from above as the doors opened. I moved slowly and carefully, crouching down so they wouldn't see me. The road ahead was clear, which made my job easier.

The train had more carriages than I had initially thought. Lena and the others started from the last carriage and moved several carriages forward. I continued to follow them without breaking my stance, avoiding the corners and moving slowly through the middle of the carriages while staying out of sight of the soldiers. When we reached the middle carriage of the train, Lena and the others were standing inside, still talking. I continued to watch them from above.

Inside the carriage they were in, I could see that there were prisoners tied up and working. Most of the soldiers had moved to another carriage with Lena and Tag while some remained inside.

As Lena and Tagla headed to another wagon, Lena cleverly stuck a wire buckle between the door before leaving. From where I was, I could easily spot the buckle which had unlocked the door and left it slightly ajar. Without the need for a key, I waited for Lena and Tagla to move away before making my move. "Showtime," I whispered to myself as I gathered my weapons and prepared to enter.

As I opened the door, I slammed it against a soldier who had been sent to investigate. Taking advantage of the situation, I used him as a barricade and fired my gun, neutralising the two people in front of me. With a swift motion, I threw the soldier I had used as a shield towards the soldier on my left, clearing my immediate surroundings.

Using my quick reflexes, I grabbed the end of the gun pointed at me by the soldier on my right and pulled him towards me. Leaning slightly to the left, I disarmed him with a hard blow to his stomach followed by a hit to his head.

After disarming the soldiers, I noticed that a dozen prisoners with chained hands were staring at me with fear in their eyes. It was clear they had been held captive for a long time and viewed me as their enemy. To ease their worries, I approached them slowly and bowed slightly to show that I meant no harm.

"Please don't be afraid, I am here to help you. I will get you out of here," I said, although my words seemed futile.

Unfortunately, their chains were too strong to be broken by bullets, and there was no nearby material to cut them loose. As I pondered my next move, I heard footsteps approaching from the carriages at the head of the train.

One of the observant prisoners noticed my dilemma and pointed to the soldier whose pocket held the keys.

"The keys are in that soldier's pocket, you can use him," he said, giving me a way to free the prisoners.

Acting on the prisoner's advice, I leaned towards the soldier and found the key in his pocket. Turning to the prisoners, I freed them from their chains. However, the situation became more dire as footsteps grew closer.

"I'm going to get you out of here," I reassured the newly freed prisoners.

One of them asked me a question I didn't have an answer to: "How exactly are you going to get us out of here?"

Wishing I had thought of that beforehand, I replied, "I'll improvise."

"That's a terrible idea," he responded.

"If you have a better idea, please share it," I challenged him, hoping for a solution to our predicament.

As he had been in that train for a long time, he knew it much better than I did, so it made sense to consider his ideas.

"There's a coupling mechanism under the doorways of the carriages. If we go to the back of the carriages and disconnect the mechanism, the carriage at the back will separate from the train and stop quickly, and we can escape into the forest."

"Okay, let's not waste any time," I said. However, nobody moved. Before I could ask the prisoner why they weren't moving, they answered.

"We can't do that. We have friends and family in the front carriages. If we leave them here..."

"You can't save your friends. Now move," I said firmly.

"Others draw strength from their bloodlines, but we draw strength from each other. I don't know what kind of bloodline you are, but we don't leave anyone behind."

"I'm more human than you can imagine. You can be sure of that."

"Then help us save our friends," they said.

I let out a deep sigh and turned my head towards them.

"Get everyone to the back carriage. Use the roof of the carriage to reach the others and save them. When you're sure you've saved everyone, separate the carriage."

"What are you going to do?" they asked.

"I'll distract them and try to buy you some time."

I gave him the key and asked, "Will this spanner open their chain?"

"Yes, it's made for this specific chain," he replied.

"What about the carriage doors?"

"I personally helped the craftsmen when they made those locks. I know the keyways by heart. If there is anything like a clasp..."

I took the clasp off the door and handed it to the prisoner. "Take it and move quickly," I said.

Footsteps were approaching and the prisoner opened the door to the rear carriage. By the time elite soldier Tag, Lena, and a few soldiers in front of me entered the carriage, the prisoners were long gone.