• Hector was sprinting across the roof of the train, slowing down to get a sure footing when he jumped from one car to the next. He made it to the guard car, changed magazines and opened the case he left there. He grabbed a simple grenade launcher that was made to be attached to the underside of his assault rifle. He loaded one grenade and grabbed a bandolier belt holding twelve grenades. Hector pointed to a truck heading towards them and said to Judeu, “Let it get closer, get everybody in the back, I'll take care of the driver.”
    Hector sighted in on the lower driver side of the truck's windshield, pulled the trigger and fired once. He sighted in on the passenger side windshield and fired. While Judeu tore through everybody in the bed of the truck, Hector climbed down the ladder and ran towards the truck. He pulled the body out of the driver side and got in.
    By this time Gracchus had made it to the back of the train; Hector got out, opened the passenger side door, pulled the body out and got in the passenger side. Gracchus jumped in the driver seat and drove after the large something that was heading their direction.
    “What is it?” Hector asked.
    “I don't know.” Gracchus said.
    “Oh.”
    “We should see it before it sees us.” Gracchus looked at the hills to the west and forest to the east. From this distance he could see the storm cloud in front of the train move like a retracting curtain that would soon reveal everything hiding behind it.
    They saw the dual cannons of an old model armored crawler. These old machines were mobile fortresses made for prolonged sieges against real fortresses. They were slow and hard to maintain but one could lay waste to everything in it's range.
    If the train hadn't stopped, they would have been able to outrun it. Everybody had a way of dong things and somebody in the train crew refused to drive through the storm in this area because of the reduced visibility. Now it was up to Hector and Gracchus to keep this thing away.
    Gracchus did his best to stay in the crawler's blind spots; there were no trucks left defending it. It's worst design flaw was being exploited.
    Hector pulled a black and red grenade out and switched it out with the grenade he loaded earler. “Get behind it so I can clear out the people tank.”
    Gracchus got the truck behind the crawler and Hector jumped out of the truck. Hector walked behind the crawler, looking for a place to climb without alerting the crew inside. There were two turrets on the front with machine gun in the middle. The sides had smaller cannons that swiveled on ball turrets. Gracchus followed in the truck until Hector had made it to the hatch on top. He got out of the truck and went up to the treads.
    Hector opened the hatch and fired the grenade in. Thick red smoke billowed out of the hatch; Hector shot the crew as they tried to escape.
    Gracchus put two grenades into each of the treads, they came apart under the weight of the crawler.
    Hector climbed down the back of the crawler and pulled the empty grenade casing out of his launcher as he walked back to the truck. As they traveled back to the train they saw a helicopter fly past them and toward the train.

    Delilah and Joseph waited on the train as the half track came closer. Delilah climbed up onto the train.
    Joseph's submachine gun was still jammed; he pulled the magazine out and slammed the slide into the frame of the doorway. The gun spit out a bullet that was covered in nicks and gashes; it was dull and tarnished from being handled so many times but never fired. Joseph tossed it aside and looked at the next bullet in the magazine to make sure it wasn't the same. He loaded the magazine and pulled the slide back, ready for whatever came out of the halftrack.
    Delilah had no choice but to get behind Joseph in the doorway. They waited as the half track slowed down. Joseph knew they saw him and Delilah; they had to have seen all of the wreckage from their failed attack. All Delilah and Joseph had was one bike shop assembled submachine gun and their skills with their respective swords. The halftrack crew didn't know this and kept their distance to avoid ending up like the rest of the trucks.
    The halftrack turned around and drove away towards the hills. The train chugged and lurched forward as it started to crawl along. The storm was clearing up ahead and Gracchus and Hector were returning from behind.
    Delilah banged on the locomotive's armored door with her fist. When it opened she asked the crew member, “all clear?”
    A helicopter flew past them in the direction of the half track.
    “Yeah. The storm is blowing further away to the west. We're picking up speed and will head off as soon as everybody is on board.” One of the crew said. Younger than the other one, much friendlier too.

    It was many hours later when the clear sky was turning red. Joseph, Hector, Judeu, Delilah and Gracchus sat on top of the guard car with their dinner. Because of the small crew size, everybody on the train got the same food; the passengers might have more dressings and nicer plates but they paid for it. Everybody had a half of a roasted chicken, a half loaf of bread and a salad with assorted dark greens and sprouts. They ate off of simple steel trays and drank beer from steel mugs.
    “I got word from that Midland Seventeen was attacked an hour before we were.” Gracchus said, then directed his next comment to Joseph “Midland Seventeen is the train carrying the supplies and mining crew we were to meet up with in that new town before heading to Goosequill. They're following the northern Horeb Coast.” He continued to everybody. “They had three guards and were hit by one of those crawlers and a helicopter.”
    “We saw one follow the halftrack off to the hills.” Joseph said
    “We saw it after we took out the crawler.” Hector replied
    “The guys on Midland Seventeen got creative with the mining equipment. They had a machine fighter running the show over there and they made some sort of sling using a crane belt and started tossing explosives at the crawler. I have no idea how they got the helicopter.” Gracchus finished.
    “It would have had to get close enough to fire whatever they had accurately.” Judeu said “There's nothing to hide behind in the open sky and if they were in range of the helicopter's guns then the helicopter was in range of their guns. I'm sure it wasn't like shooting kittens in a basket but it can be done.”
    Joseph looked at his half of chicken, thinking about the attack. Thoughts were coming and going like the people at the train station they would be arriving at. He tried to imagine what that station looked like or what this town would look like.
    The chicken was seasoned with something he had never tried before; it was like raw cinnamon and mustard but it wasn't overbearing. Joseph grabbed the leg and pulled the bone right out of the leg meat; it was cooked through so well and evenly. The bread had a light cinnamon honey glaze but other than that and being freshly cooked, it was similar to what he traveled with; heavy grains and seeds were loaded in. The salad had fat dark spinach leaves, bright lettuce and varieties of sprouts. He tossed the bone over the side of the train. “What are we doing?”
    “We're guarding this train until we get to the town to meet up with the supplies from the east.” Gracchus said. “Rest, relax for a day and guard the supplies on their way to Goosequill.”
    “What happens when we leave for Goosequill?” Joseph asked.
    Gracchus answered. “We guard the supplies and crew on our way to Goosequill. From there, they don't tell us the rest. If you want, you can get off at the next stop or you can help us finish the job. The pay is good, food and supplies are paid for. When we get to town you can talk to the taskmaster and form a contract or collect your pay for your help here.”
    Joseph didn't answer. He was sure he could handle whatever the train company had for them but he wanted to see what kind of work was available in the next town. Something less violent maybe. Something about that last fight put him off.
    While Gracchus was talking to Joseph, Hector and Delilah began play fighting over the jug of beer.
    Judeu pulled out a bag of tobacco and papers and started rolling a cigarette. “Those people that attacked us were not trained fighters of any type.”
    “There were trained fighters.” Joseph said, slightly disgusted.“They were watching the whole time.”
    “That helicopter too was watching.” Gracchus said. “It's unnerving to see how willing they were to waste lives and vehicles.”
    “That's why most of them were armed with pistols and machetes?” Joseph said “I can think of a hundred ways that they weren't prepared.”
    “Beware The Great Leviathan for he brings the plagues of progress.” Hector said in a lighter mood. It was a quote from the New Renaissance Collected Works of Thea. Hector believed in the Human spirit being in conflict with the spirits of nature and Thea who was the world.
    Delila replied by sinking the largest coin she had and sinking it into Hectors mug, splashing some beer out. Less than she hoped so she poured more beer into his mug. Neither of them was supposed to have anything less than a full mug at all times. “Pay attention.”
    “The other train was probably attacked by the same people.” Judeu said “We can expect to get hit again on the way to Goosequill. I don't think they will send anything less then their best next time.”
    “Good.” Joseph said. He wanted to cut apart whoever was responsible for the wasted life “You really think they will hit us though?”
    “We're gonna see something while passing through the hills.” Judeu said, “The way we and Midland Seventeen were attacked leads me to believe it will be the same group.”