Enigma Glitch

Chapter 8: Test Pilot IV

Murphy pushed his way through swarms of passengers who all moved in the opposite direction as himself. Every person on the rear cars flooded through the small doors at the ends of every car, many of which had large bags with them.

"My trip to the caboose isn't going to be a sprint like I thought," Murphy said to the team. "I'm four cars away, but this might take a year or two. I didn't think it was possible to see them all more scared than at the station."

"It's a full evacuation," Cooper said. "The company and the government don't care if we all die, but the conductors care about making it home after this lucrative run. I've ordered them to have all passengers get to the front cars."

Murphy advanced one step, but caught a shoulder to the neck and a few elbows to his ribs in trade.

"Why does it matter which part of the train they're on?" Murphy continued to gain inches against the current of terrified passengers.

"If the criminals attempt to lift the train, we decouple after car five," Cooper said.

Murphy gazed upward to the red-dot marque glowing above the heads of the horde. Giant scrolling letters declared, CAR 32: COACH PASSENGERS.

"I'm a car or two behind the safe point, boss." Murphy gulped at the idea of a levitating train.

"Then be a little more forceful about getting through," Victoria said. "The faster you stop your target, the less likely you will be to take a flight."

The train lurched as it climbed a steep grade out of the San Francisco Valley.

"I'm sorry," Murphy said as he shoved a man twice his age out of the way.

People continued to swarm forth and filled the gap where the man had been in an instant. Worse, the older man staggered sideways and fell, then vanished as others trampled over him.

"That is you unless you grow a spine," Victoria said.

"Move!" Murphy punched the nearest man in his way and shoved a couple beside him. He squared his shoulders and snarled to look as menacing as he could. "Come on now, sheep." He thrashed and punched his way to form a gap through the startled crowd.

"Homeland Defense, official business," Murphy announced as he shoved more people from his path who responded only with profanities.

The crowd reacted with angered curses and elbow jabs for the rest of his trip through Car 32, so much so he yelled and hit anyone in his way until they parted for him through Car 33, then he'd become so hostile by Car 34 the crowd parted for him. He was relieved to find Car 35 was empty. He whispered a "sorry" to all the people he'd hurt, and hoped they knew he acted only to protect them. He gulped before he threw the door open to the caboose.

"Found my target," Victoria reported to the team. Two shots from a small caliber pistol popped through the radio. "That is a day wrecker for him. Target terminated."

Thoughts of an airborne train and the many people he'd hurt to get to the canopied gangway haunted Murphy as he hustled up the small ladder and forced his way through an access hatch. He took a moment to ramp up his visor's night vision but turned down its external glow to help hide against a possibly hostile target. He collected himself and burst upward onto the caboose roof to look for his target.

A man squatted several yards away from the hatch next to a hover scooter parked on the train's roof. He had his back toward Murphy and fumbled with a radio to make repeated requests for contact.

"You have permission to kill your target," Cooper said.

Murphy took a deep breath and scurried along with the cadence of the track noise. He came up behind the man and tackled him.

The man spun around in surprise but managed to pull out a pistol as the two rolled toward the roof's edge. One of their legs kicked out during their wrestling-like struggle and jostled the hover scooter before they rolled away from it and broke apart from each other.

"Surrender. You're under arrest," Murphy ordered. He scrambled to an uneasy stand.

The target, a man concealed in baggy clothing, stood on his knees and raised his pistol in Murphy's direction.

Murphy used his height advantage and kicked the man in the face as a gunshot rang against the noise of the rails.

The target tumbled backward and fell from the edge of the train. The hover scooter slid down the same side before it also tumbled off the roof. While the target vanished in the murky night filled with factory smoke, the scooter exploded in a nova of brilliant blue energy that shot upward with particles that trickled forever upward rather than back down.

"Target terminated," Murphy said through heavy breaths. He rubbed his chest to check for gunshot wounds but found nothing.

"You are turning out to be more than a soft ball of dough," Victoria said with the hint of a chuckle.

"Okay, everyone, I wish I didn't have to tell you the bad news," Emma said. "The Air Force is monitoring all these rogue flights, including the ten successful scooters. I couldn't tap into their channels for long, but their radio chatter seems to show a pair of the other scooters is headed westward toward you."