Runaway Train

Act II - Scene 10

Just like that, the tides had turned.

Lillian, after having glanced back to see what Johnny had done, jumped in horror. She was sort of frozen in action, there; her hands seemed instinctively ready to move, to summon up her storm no doubt, but all was halted by the delicate tension of the situation. After all, Johnny could surely drop the rabbit faster than she could catch it; it'd be done for in an instant. So, she stayed her hand and instead brought up her voice. "Put Tuxy down, right now!" she yelled. Though her tone made Johnny flinch, he didn't let up. He couldn't. Rather, in retaliation, he slowly lowered the rabbit down an inch closer to the water. "Hey-! Listen, we can talk about this," she quickly said. In an instant, her tone had changed entirely, so drastically that it was almost funny. Well, it would have been if things were very, very different.

"No!" Johnny snapped back. "W-we're not talking about anything until you let us all go." Though he was shaking in terror as he did it, he met Lillian eye to shattered eyehole. He was afraid—lord, was he—but there was no way in hell he was going to lose this now.

"Sure sure, of course. But first, could you please put Tuxy down?" Lillian said, running a hand through her hair. It was strange to see her genuinely anxious. "Come on, Death's gonna kill me if anything happens to him. Sure, he won't die, he can't die, but- ugh! Just please?"

"Let us go first. Then I'll put him down."

The girl seemed to struggle for words. "Please?"

Johnny's resolve hardened. He took in a deep, steadying breath. He was going to push this as far as it needed to go. As far as he had to take it to free them all. He wasn't going to be shaken, not now. He was going to save them. He lowered Tuxy further, until he was dangerously close to the water. Johnny could feel the sea spray on his arm at this point, but he went even further. He was just barely above the surface at this point. The creature kicked his little legs, but it was for nothing. Even as a bit of a wave came up, clipping the tip of his fluffy white tail, Johnny didn't budge.

Though Johnny wasn't relenting, that was when Tuxy decided he had had enough. A screeching honk burst out of the little thing, distress evident in its tone. That wasn't the problem, though—Johnny could manage a screaming rabbit—no; it was what started after that that shook Johnny to his very soul. The whole train began to shake, to the point that it was so violent that Johnny almost accidentally dropped Tuxy anyway. The light flickered and went dim, the storm clouds above darkening further and the morning light fading away. All were still, looking up and around in silent fear. Even Lillian had stopped everything. Even she wasn't in control of this. Dread darkened Johnny's spirits. What is this...?

A cold breath of air flew along Johnny's spine, a shiver crawling after it. It went softly, slowly, drawing itself into words. A voice spoke, though not the same one he'd heard before; this one was light, almost shaky and delicate. Fragile. But it was present, not just in his mind. It sounded just behind him. "Oh, Tuxy," it said, "look at you." Johnny whirled around to face what it was that was speaking. He was terrified to see it was already looming over him. It was cloaked in shadow, spindly and ghost-like in its form. All light seemed blotted out around it, but all darkness did too; everything was like nothing near it. Its eyeholes, where they glanced out from within a skeletal mask and under a dark hood, were pits of the most absolute void Johnny had seen yet. They were even more lifeless than the first reaper, and even more terrible than Lillian's. He knew then. He knew instantly what this was—who this was. All knew his name, after all. It was Death himself.

Johnny was completely still, paralyzed beneath his gaze. His arm still hung out over the edge of the dock, with Tuxy just inches away from the sea. That would probably only make things worse, what with Death, the apparent owner of the rabbit, right there, but Johnny couldn't think to realize that; even his thoughts were deadened in the spectre's presence. He waited in dread—for what, he didn't know—but he waited.

After a moment, Death leaned down a bit further. Though his mask couldn't move, he seemed to squint down at Johnny. "Well, you're a bit of a rude young man, aren't you? Holding Tuxy like that!" he finally said. "And you're a silly little boy yourself, Tuxy! Always getting into these silly situations." Not a speck of malice was in his voice. In fact, he sounded... rather silly. Almost like an old neighborhood geezer! Johnny was in shock still, but for a different reason now. "What're you causing all this trouble for now, hm? Speak up, young man!"

Johnny could only stutter, but Lillian quickly found her own words. "All of these mortals have been causing trouble!" she said. "I'm just trying to get rid of them but they- well, he did this."

Death, seeming surprised, straightened up. Slowly, and still bent over some, he made his way over to Lillian, who looked up at him somewhat sulkily. "Wh- why in the world are you doing that?" he exclaimed. As he did, he reached out a ghostly hand to brush over the cracks of Lillian's mask. The damage was repaired seamlessly where it trailed, concealing all of the girl's face once more.

She seemed eager to shrug off his hand, though. "They're obviously alive. Alive things don't belong on the Runaway Train," she replied, her tone carrying the bite of a petulant, snarky teenager.

"Well don't do that!" Death replied simply.

Lillian seemed (understandably, in all fairness) incredulous. She scoffed in disbelief. "You're the one who put me in charge of taking care of the train in the first place!" she snapped. "I'm just doing what you told me to do!"

Death sighed and shook his head, in the manner a wise old sage would do so to a student. Well, hypothetically wise. Really, this all did make him just seem sillier and sillier. "No, no," he said calmly. "If they're here, the Conductor must want them to be. We shouldn't get rid of them now." Lillian huffed, but he ignored her. Rather, he turned to gaze around at all the other passengers. "You children better all get up to the locomotive and ask them what they want with you! They always want something." Though Lillian opened her mouth to object again, Death silenced her by adding, "Help them along, won't you, my dear? After all, they won't have a chance finding their way there without someone like you! Oh, or Tuxy. Or myself, but you know, I'm very very busy." Again, not a hint of anything other than genuine kindness was in his words; no malevolence, no bitterness, no spite. It did amaze Johnny, truly. How can Death be such a... a gentle old man?

Despite Death's demeanor, Lillian was infuriated and baffled. It was now her turn to simply stutter. However, she put a stop to that with a terribly long, seething sigh. She crossed her arms and grumbled, in the absolute lowest of tones, "Fine."

Pleased with her reply, Death meandered back over to Johnny. By this time, Johnny had the presence of mind to straighten up; he pushed himself up off the floor, placing Tuxy as softly as possible down into his lap. Of course, the little creature immediately calmed down. It was docile as ever, despite having been upset enough to screech for help a moment ago. Johnny kind of envied it; he still shook involuntarily as Death leaned back down to him. "That's much better," the dreaded spectre said. He reached a hand toward Johnny, and his heart pounded faster than ever before as he did. It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming as Death passed his palm in front of his face. After that, he didn't have to keep himself from it any longer; that same strangling force that Anne had used on them all in the boat took hold over his soul once more, paralyzing him totally. Though it was equally as terrifying, it was much better than what he feared would happen. Even better was that this time he wasn't stuck looking straight up. Rather, he was stuck looking just slightly up, right at Death.

Johnny didn't feel the weight being lifted from his lap, but he did see Death straighten up with Tuxy in his arms. "You really need to fix your manners, young man," his muffled voice said, breaking through the absolute silence that pressed on his ears. "After all, the Conductor won't like rude guests. Crafty, though, he might like, and you seem to have that!" With those last few words, he simply faded out of view, and Johnny's brush with Death was over.