Shattered

After making my desperate leap onto the car of the train, I jiggled the door to find it locked. Great. I hadn’t thought through this part of my plan! If I needed to, I could try to smash a window, but they looked locked up tight.

A face appeared and I nearly fell of the moving car. An old, African-American man looked at me with shock and unlocked the door, beckoning me inside.

“I don’t think being outside a train is the best place to ‘get in touch with nature’!” the man yelled through the wind. Grasping my arm, he helped me inside. Soon after, he closed the door and locked it tight. The old man had a warm grin and worn clothes. It was obvious that he was homeless, just like me.

The inside of the car was much different than I expected. Many of the seats were torn out and replaced with…couches? A few beds hung in the corner. Some of the seats actually remained, but most were torn out. Tables, chairs, and cabinets were all bolted down in the plush carpet. Near the roof of the car hung places to store belongings, much like the storage compartments of airplanes. Many of them were unlocked and open. They were big enough to fit a person!

Speaking of people, there was one other person that I could see was onboard. A wrinkled woman who looked about seventy years old smiled up at me. Her much too large jacket was riddled with holes, just like the scarf around her shoulders. It might be the middle of July, but she was prepared.

These homeless people rode in style!

“Now how did you get out there?” She laughed and beckoned to the seat next to her. It was one of the original passenger seats that faced each other. A table sat in the middle and an open passenger compartment was in easy reach from above.

“It’s a bit of a long story.” I laughed, already warming up to her. She sat with her arms folded in her lap.

“My name’s Quinn. I’m an iron rider and I’ve got time.” She coughed a hoarse chuckled. The man who had let me on sat on the couch. I tilted my head at the name. For the first time in a couple months, I asked a question.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s an iron rider?” I curiously asked. She gestured around her.

“One of us old homeless men and woman who ride the rails. Iren and I, well, we’re luckier than most. This train’s a bit of a hidden gem. Old Ire was the one who found it.” Quinn winked. I nodded. This was a seriously decked out car!

“Not a lot of iron riders live around the stops that this train makes, so we usually get to ourselves, plus a few other in the cities we stop at.” Iren smiled and handed me a cup of water. I took a dainty sip from it, unsure how my stomach would react. Being able to sit down relaxed my sore limbs.

“So please, tell us your story, mysterious girl with the silver chains.” Quinn teased. As I introduced myself, I told her my story. There were no details left out. They understood the pains. We both knew the struggles of having no permanent home, no stable jobs, and nothing in general. At the end of my tale, both were left speechless.

“You poor darling.” Quinn murmured. I gave her a weak smile and opened up my pack. She touched my hand lightly.

“This isn’t our car, but I’m sure they will be more than happy to lend you anything you need. Just ask for any help.” She told me. Ire patted my other hand as well. They were kind souls.

“Thank, I do appreciate this. So who are ‘they’?” I asked her. She smiled to Ire and let out a little laugh. I took another sip of water from the plastic cup.

“Oh the boys! The five of them are such sweethearts. Chris is just a boy in a man’s body and is the one who allowed us to ride here. He’s just a darling.” She touched the spot over her heart softly and let out a small cough.

It felt nice to not have to use ‘sir’ or ‘Masters’. A weight had been lifted off my shoulder. Although the feeling was a little usual at first, I got used to it after a small part of our conversation. It had been hard to remember what life was like before being “collected” so long ago.

“Oh, they sound like wonderful people!” I let out a small smile. Maybe they would be happy to let me on as well as an unexpected passenger!

“Oh they are!” The old man Ire exclaimed before sitting on the couch and closing his eyes to the rocking of the car.

“So what stops does this train make?” I asked Quinn. She glanced to the blacked out windows. The only light was from electrical lamps on the wall and strips overhead. A fan whirled slowly.

“The next stop is at Fallon, Nevada. We’ll be there in a couple of hours. After that is Moab and Rawlin, both in Utah. Then it’s up to Vernal in Wyoming and Casper. At Casper we turn go straight to Ravendale in California and Sacramento. It makes the rounds all in one week.” I listened intently to each destination. Moab sounded the most promising.

“When is the Moab stop?” I asked her. She thought for a moment. Ire spoke up without opening his eyes.

“Thursday at noon.” He replied. I thought for a moment. That sounded perfect!

“Are you thinking about getting off there?” Quinn asked curiously. I nodded.

“I need to head to Denver. That’ll be my best bet.” I explained. My hands instantly moved up to the silver collar around my neck and fiddled with the chains nervously. As much as I wanted to take it off, something in my brain refused to let me do it.

“Ire and I will be getting off at Vernal to search for some work. I’m glad we can stay with you for your journey.” Quinn genuinely smiled. I returned the expression. It was a welcome break to be happy and not afraid for once. My stomach still ached from the pain of the wound, but it did nothing to deter my joy.

Quinn moved to go sleep on a bed as I opened up my pack, spilling its contents. There was a variety of items. I sighed as a container with a few pain pills was the first to pop out of the grey pack. I found an extra pair of socks, another blue shirt, and a sleeve of crackers (which I may or may not eat), a small first aid kit, and two bottles of water. Putting everything away except for the crackers, I stashed my bag in one of the above compartments, but left the lid open. I took a nibble of the first cracker but took five minutes to eat the entire square. It was enough for now. I could barely hold that down anyways.

I stuffed the crackers with my bag and looked around. Quinn and Ire were fast asleep as the train rocked the car back in forth in a lulling motion. My brain fell into a trance like state until someone snapped me out of it.

“Oh, when did you come on the train?” A head with long black hair swept over to hang on the right side of his face asked me. The eyes that peered down to me were ringed with black make up that matched a set of lips with three piercings.

Needless to say, I flipped out.

I would say that I set the fastest time for scrambling to a hiding spot. The only option available was the overhead compartment. So leaping on the table, I hopped into the compartment and slammed the door.

Was it childish of me? Yes. What else did people do when they saw a face that was pale while with black hair and black eyeliner?

Did I fight or flee? Fleeing seemed to be the option in the moment. Besides, the figure looked quite a bit like Ronnie! The only glance at the man I got was that he wore all black, had tattoos, and pale skin. Did he look cruel? Yes, yes he did.

“What did I say?” The man whispered. I ducked my head into my arms, trying to get the image of Ronnie standing over me out of my head. Nope, nope, nope!

“Good going, Chris! You scared the Balz out of her!” Another man laughed.

“Hah, what a very funny pun.” A third voice sarcastically replied. A whimper of pain followed. I automatically assumed the third man had punched the second.

“That was quite some leap. I literally blinked and she was gone!” A forth voice said, amusement in his voice.

“What did you boys do?” Quinn’s rough voice asked. The first man, Chris, answered her with a sigh.

“I have no clue. She’s up in the storage compartment.” Chris explained. Did Quinn have something screwy with her head?! That guy looked like the monster out of a horror film!

“Kynder dear, you can come out now! It’s just Chris!” Quinn laughed.

“N-no thanks! I’m perfectly content up here! I’ve got crackers!” I stuttered. The third voice spoke up.

“Ooh! Can I have some crackers?”

“I told you boys that you needed to take off your make up before meeting new guests!” Iren chuckled. I could live in this compartment. It was cozy enough.

“We didn’t know there was someone else here!” The second voice responded.

“Well, I didn’t either! We found her outside on the railing!” Iren stated. The room fell silent.

“Um, girl in the cabinet? Why were you outside?” Chris asked. It sounded like his voice was right outside.

“W-well, I w-was r-r-running away. I-it’s a l-long story, sir!” I squeaked out. Was he just another owner in disguise among the elderly homeless? It was hard to know!

“Could you come out so we can hear this story?” Chris asked sweetly. He sounded a little taken back by being called ‘sir’.

I poked open the lid and stared down a little, eyes wide at the sight of five pale men with intense eyes and lots of black clothing. Thinking about it for a moment, I swung myself down on the table, closed the lid, and hopped to a more open spot. It was all one graceful movement. There was a good five feet of space between the men and I, but I felt a little scared.

“Well aren’t you a pretty thing.” The man next to Chris murmured happily. I ducked my head as I blushed.

“Shut up, Ghost! You’re making her blush!” The man with the shorter, cropped hair wrinkled his nose at the man named Ghost.

“But it’s cute when she does that, Balz.” Ghost laughed and stepped forward to push away a stray strand of hair. As soon as his cold fingers brushed my temple, I shivered away out of habit. Chris shot them both a look. What I really wanted to do right now is back up against the wall and melt into the sides. The name named Balz had large gauges in his ears. It shocked me how far the tissue stretched.

“Ryan, can you please go check with the engineer on time?” Chris asked the man in the back, who nodded and went out.

“Ricky, come with me!” Ryan complained. The last man shook his head with a smirk.

“I want to get to know cracker girl!” Ricky stuck out his tongue when Ryan left in frustration.

“So what’s your name?” Chris asked. I had to recall my own name, searching back for a second too long.

“Kynder.” I responded quietly. Chris smiled, making him even scarier, in my eyes. Quinn chuckled from the side.

“Chris, be nice. You’re scaring the poor child. She’s had a rough past.” Quinn’s eyes went soft with the thoughts. I looked away, embarrassed to have so many people pity me. Hey, at least I was here now and away from the old owners!

“Oh, I’m sorry Kynder. You don’t have to talk about your story, if you don’t want to.” Chris motioned for all of us to sit down. I took my seat in the far corner, the other pale men looking at me expectantly. Ryan came back just in time for the story. As I exhaled, I started my story again.

Notes

This chapter is dedicated to @i_love_balz because you seemed pretty excited when I put MIW in the character list XD

Okay, sorry for the slightly long chapter, but we'll get to know more of MIW in the next part!

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