The Moon Dwellers

But I can also tell there is a tenderness to her. I felt it when she looked back at me when I was fighting Rivet. Like she felt sad that I should have to struggle for her sake.

Adele is fu

“Tristan?”

I look at Roc. I’ve been staring into space, but that isn’t unusual for me these days. Roc is staring at my hands. I look down and realize they are clasped tightly and I am ru

“You okay?” Roc says.

“Uh, yeah. Just a little nervous, I guess.”

“About what to do when the train stops?”

“Not what to do,” I say. “How to do it.”

“You’ll do it,” Roc says. “We’re here for a reason. I sense it.”

I search Roc’s brown eyes for the truth. For a moment I sense it, too, try to snatch it out, but then it fades away, disappearing, just like all the good things in my life always seem to do. Sometimes Roc seems so confident and serious, like now, and other times so helpless, like in the midst of a fight, or when we were captured.

I try to turn my philosophical thoughts off and focus on the task at hand. “Right, I’ll need your help, Roc, there are just too many of them for me to handle on my own.”

Roc’s wise eyes turn fearful in an instant.

“We’ll get through it together. I won’t let anything happen to you,” I say, knowing we might both be dead by day’s end.

Roc nods, purses his lips, seems to resign himself to the certain violence that is headed our way, like a meteor on a collision course with earth.

“We’ll have the element of surprise,” I continue, “but that will only help us at the very begi

“Yes, sire,” he drones, but I can tell he appreciates the direction.

“Once we’ve downed all the men, I’ll head for Rivet while you try to find a safe place for Adele to hide. They may think we’re foes, so you’ll have to convince them otherwise.”

“I’ll convince them,” Roc promises.

* * *

Adele

I can see them through the glass, several cars back, pacing around, punching the walls, acting like they are on drugs. Maybe they are. Something to make them even more violent—as if they need that.

At first I think there might be a way for them to get to us while the train is still moving, but now I don’t think so. We are seemingly safe for the moment. I know it won’t last.

We haven’t spoken since the train started moving. I don’t think any of us has the words, or knows what to say. Even Elsey seems to be lost in her thoughts, perhaps mulling over the flash of violence she witnessed by me at the train doors. Tawni is standing in the corner, leaning against the wall, staring out the window as the rocky tu

According to Cole, who seems to have a pretty good handle on these sorts of matters, the train ride will only take two hours, being an express. Although I know we are traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, the ride is so smooth it barely feels like we’re moving.

An hour goes by in silence. Typically I’d be comfortable with the quiet, as I grew used to it during the endless hours I spent alone in the Pen, but for some reason I can’t stand it now. With every second that goes by, the screaming in my head gets worse, until I can’t take it anymore.

“Urrrrr!” I grunt, making a weird growling, gurgling noise from the back of my throat.

Everyone looks at me. Elsey grins nervously. Tawni raises an eyebrow. Cole laughs, of course. “Are we there yet?” he asks, purposely sounding as whiny as possible.

I take a deep breath. I need to calm down, try to get a grip on the anxiety I’m feeling. I feel like I’m about to have a heart attack.

“I hope so,” I say, trying to sound tough. I’m secretly dreading our arrival, afraid of not being able to protect my friends, my sister. Afraid of what Rivet will do. Afraid of what Rivet will tell me about Tristan when I ask him. At the same time, the waiting might be worse. It is like pulling out a splinter of rock from your foot. Although the pain is minor with it in your skin, over time it becomes more and more uncomfortable, until it’s unbearable, leaving you making weird grunting-gurgling noises like some sick animal. Left untreated, the splinter pushes deeper into the skin, becoming a part of you. The only treatment is to pull it out, swiftly and painfully. When the doors open at the end of the line, we’ll have no choice but to remove our own rock splinter.

“What are they going to do to us?” Elsey says, sounding like a normal kid, instead of my older-than-her-years sister.

I want to reassure her, but I also don’t want to lie to her. I hesitate for a moment, trying to formulate the right words, but Cole answers for me. “Nothing,” he says. “They’re not go

Coming from Cole, it isn’t just talk. As he cracks his knuckles, I can see a level of determination in his face that exceeds even his normal level of strength. As much as it comforts me, it also scares me, not because of what he might do to Rivet and his gang, but because of what they might do to him. Although I don’t voice it, I vow at that moment to do whatever it takes to protect my friends, even if it costs me my life. There are some things more important than your own life. Like friendship, and love, and trust, and goodness.

We speak very little during the final hour, but for some reason it doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve made my vow, as has Cole, so there is nothing else to talk about. We have no strategy, except to run from Rivet until we are forced to stand and fight. Then we will fight.

I feel the train slowing and my heart skips a beat.

* * *

Tristan

The train slows and I stand. Roc follows suit, looking rather sick. He tries to pull his sword from his sheath, but it gets stuck three times before he can get it out. I know now is the time for a big speech, something to energize him for the battle ahead. My mouth feels sticky and dry, so I take a sip of water. I don’t know what I plan to say, so I just start speaking, hoping my heart will do the rest.

“Roc,” I say, “you’re my brother. Always will be.”

Short, concise, simple; but I mean every word, more than anything I’ve ever said before. And it seems to do the job. Roc’s hand stops trembling and tightens on his sword, his eyes change to a steely brown, his jaw firms up.

“I’m with you, Tristan. I’d die for you.”

Tears fill my eyes but I blink them away. Now is not the time for tears. “And I you,” I say.

The train rolls to a stop. A heavy mist roils outside the window. Subchapter 26 is dark, but not completely. Something is lighting the sky. We are standing flush against the doors, trying to be the first off—every second will be important in the deadly game we are playing. The doors open and we step out into the mist.

Not mist—smoke. The air is filled with the suffocating stench of war. The platform trembles as a bomb explodes in the distance. The bombing has reached the northernmost subchapter.

I can’t see through the thick smoke, but I run along the train anyway, hoping that Adele is still alive when I reach the end.

When I see Rivet his back is to me. His men are so focused on what he is telling them that they don’t see me. I fade backwards into the fog. I bump into Roc.