The Dark Railway: A Thomas & Friends AU Story

July 10th, 1971

My boiler felt like it was in knots. My heart felt ice cold. I could feel my wheels shaking, and my face felt numb. I never thought I'd see the day where my controller would be clinging to his life, but here he was. My driver jumped out of my cab and rushed over to the seemingly-lifeless body, and put his hand on Topham's wrist. After a few minutes, he shouted that he had a pulse, but that it was very weak, and if he didn't get medical help right away, he wouldn't make it.

BoCo's Driver rushed to get a gurney, and Henry's crew carefully lifted Topham up off the ground. I was a little concerned about how we would get to a hospital, since I knew that Diesel 10 probably had soldiers stationed all over the Island. Luckily, Henry said that the Resistance had a secret hospital base on the outskirts of Sodor, and that if we were quick enough, we could get there in time. We wasted no time. We put the gurney, with Topham on it, into an emergency coach that was sitting in a derelict siding. They strapped it down just in case of bumpy rails. Henry coupled up a brake van to the coach, and BoCo got in front of the coach and was coupled on. My fireman quickly shoveled more coal into my firebox, and with Henry leading the way, we set off for the resistance hospital.

We were soon thundering down the line as fast as our wheels would let us, not paying attention to the various speed limits and warnings. But soon, trouble found us. As we turned out the Mainline, I heard some horns that send chills down my smokebox. I looked back, and sure enough, Diesel, along with Arry and Bert, were chasing us. They must've found out that we were taking Topham to get some medical help.

Arry shouted at me to hand over the general, but instead, I began to go faster and faster. Henry and BoCo did so, too. The coach swayed and lurched, but the gurney stayed strapped down. Diesel began shooting lasers at us, trying to either derail us or blow us up. Thankfully, he kept missing us. Arry and Bert switched onto Henry's line and slammed violently into him, causing him to almost derail. Diesel focused his lasers on BoCo and the coach. They came dangerously close, but they missed him and the coach. Furious, Diesel switched onto my line and coupled up to me. He screeched on his brakes, but I kept on going. I strained and stained as I tried to stop, but I felt myself slowing down. Fearing that this may be the end, I closed my eyes and whistled loudly.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar sound. That's impossible, I thought. Diesel 10 destroyed that. I opened my eyes, and sure enough, a thick steam of gold dust was pouring out of my funnel. They swarmed around Diesel, who let me go in surprise. As we raced on, I looked back... just in time to see the gold dust steam pick Diesel up off the rails as if he was a toy, and then slam him hard onto the ground, which caused him to FUCKING EXPLODE. Arry and Bert, shocked and terrified at the death of their general, quickly retreated. I had no idea what the hell had just happened, and to be honest, I didn't really care. I was just thankful to still be alive.

We soon made it to the hospital base, where all of the other resistance members were, including, to my relief, Edward and Percy. Several resistance doctors rushed out, as my driver quickly explained the situation. The doctors unloaded Topham from the coach, and rushed him off to surgery. After I took a moment to catch my breath, I asked Edward what had happened at the base. He said that Diesel 10 must've somehow figured out where we were, because a few hours after we had left to rescue BoCo, he and his amy invaded the base. I found out that Diesel 10's army included Derek, Spamcam, George the Steamroller, Bulgy the Bus, the horrid lorries, Class 40, and even the two troublesome dump trucks, Max and Monty. An evacuation alarm sounded, and everyone scrambled into the coaches. As Edward was getting ready, he noticed some of the road vehicles run over some resistance soldiers as they tried to run away. A few more soldiers tried to shoot Diesel 10, but he just used his magic to melt their guns, and then he crushed them to death with his claw. As Edward and Percy coupled up to the remaining coaches, the old blue engine urged Topham to get in quickly, but Topham said that it was too late, and told him to run and save himself. Edward hesitated at first, but reluctantly raced off just as Diesel 10 scooped up Topham with his claw...

I could see that Edward felt guilty about leaving Topham behind. Tears formed in his weary eyes, and e shakily said it was all his fault. I had to spend the next few hours calming him down, and by the time he had cheered up, night had fallen. My driver parked me in an old siding, and I was so tired that I fell asleep before I hit the buffers....