Ghost’s POV

I sat in the bunk of the train. Our show was last Monday and we had managed to catch the train for another weekend ride around. Chris said it would help get my mind off of losing Kynder.

I wondered if she was doing well, or if she had died before she could make it to a doctor. It weighed heavily on my shoulders. Even the Balz puns that Ricky and Ryan made couldn’t cheer me up.

Currently, Iren and Quinn were at the table, doing a Thursday night game of Gin Rummy. They quietly stared at their cards in concentration that was broken by Chris’s phone ringing. He was sitting on the couch next to Ryan when he leaned over and plucked the cell off of the seat next to him.

Balz and Ricky were laying in their bunks, trying to sleep but failing. Chris hopped up all of a sudden, startling the Gin Rummy players.

“Yeah? No, please not Miles! Okay, okay. We’ll be there by nine tomorrow night. I’ll tell the others. Yeah, yeah… We have….” Chris paused and counted the people on the train. I jumped up at the name of Miles. That was the man who abused Kynder!

“Who is it?” I mouthed to Chris. What he said back made my blood freeze.

“Kynder was found in Denver, but Miles kidnapped her. It’s Austin on the line.” He whispered back. Iren and Quinn looked up.

“We have seven now. Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.” Chris sat the phone on the table in the middle of the Gin Rummy game. Even Balz and Ricky came over at the mention. It was clear they were unnerved at the news.

“Hey guys, it’s Austin Carlile here. Look, Kynder made it back to Denver safely, but Miles kidnapped her. I don’t know how much she told you, but he was her original owner that abused her. Apparently she was taken under the promise that he would kill her this weekend. We have a location to where he is, but we’re trying to gather some people to help take her back. It’s high risk. Are you in?” He asked. The word didn’t even hang in the air before we answered.

“HELL YEAH!” Balz and Ricky cried out. The rest of us agreed behind their outbursts.

“I’ll send out a message to Hope. She’s a good friend of mine and can bring even more people in.” Quinn stated to the other on the opposite line.

“Good, good. We’ll need all the help we can get.” Another man sounded more hopeful than Austin did. I don’t care about the risk, I just want to get Kynder back to safety.

“Awesome! We’ll need to meet up at the Denver rail station by nine tomorrow night. There’s a train coming in that will take all of us to Aspen, where he’s located.” A third man responded. Quinn thought for a moment before replying.

“We can do better. If we hop the line that Hope is on, we can ride it to Durango. From there is another line that will meet up at the Aspen station later Friday night. We can hang out at Aspen until you arrive Saturday morning.” Quinn firmly placed. There was no room for argument.

“As long as you can meet us in Aspen, we’ll be good. On the edge of town there is an old hotel. Hang around there and we’ll meet at six Saturday morning. Sound good?” Austin questioned. Iren smiled with Quinn. Both cared about Kynder just as much as we did.

“Deal.” With that, we hung up. A mission was on our shoulders. We would fight to get our friend back, no matter the cost. If I had learned one thing from the old iron riders and alley runners, it was that no matter what, you help each other out. It didn’t matter that alley runners were independent or that iron riders usually stuck in their own little tribes; If someone was in danger, you banded together to assist them.

“I’ll talk to the conductor. He’ll let us off at the road to Price. From there, we’ll walk to the town and get on the Friday morning train. The stop is coming up quick, so I’ll go tell him. We’ll be there in about five minutes.” Ricky took off towards the front of the train. Within a minute, he had come back and said that the conductor would stop. I nodded, not even imagining what Miles would do to the poor girl.

We had to get there in time!

And so the rescue team grew...

Notes

And so the rescue team grew...