On Track (The Old Store Lost Tales: 4)

Chapter 1: Gunfire

Calli didn't mind that their little train was running at a steady thirty. The countryside rolled past slowly enough that she could actually watch a rabbit run all the way to its hole, or note any potentially useful stores and warehouses. Everything felt easy. The last store they'd raided was full of canned food which had re-stocked the larder in the buffet car.

Vic, a retired driver, and Art, one of the young trainees, was up front keeping a sharp eye on the track. With no-one running the railway anymore, there could be any sort of obstruction ahead, from a fallen tree to a point switched the wrong way.

Calli closed her eyes for a few moments to enjoy the sound of the wheels clanking and squeaking around a right hand bend through a plantation of young trees. Then she turned and looked out on row upon row of spindly saplings. They were silver birches, tall, slender and closely spaced.

According to the clock at the end of the carriage it was a quarter to eleven. It was a good time, she thought, to make a pot of tea. Before she could get up from her seat, Calli heard a gun being fired. Then she felt the brakes snatch and the sharp pull of deceleration. She stayed put, watching the trees pass more and more slowly.

'Wonder what that's about,' Calli said, unable to resist the urge to look to the front of the train. She knew full well it was impossible to see beyond the closed end of the carriage, but it didn't stop her trying.

'Don't like the sound of it,' said a well-built lady with greying blonde hair held in a tight bun. Lucy was sitting opposite Calli in the front end of their only passenger car. While Calli had been enjoying the sway of the carriage and the view outside, Vic's partner, Lucy, had been working on a jigsaw puzzle.

'Could be Art saw something for dinner.'

Before either could think of another alternative, Vic's voice broke over the PA and the static behind his voice hissed as the train shuddered, wheels skidding on the tracks. 'Bandits ahead.'

Lucy's eyes bulged and she half rose from her seat before realising that there was no way she could get past the fuel truck between the carriage and the engine. There was nothing she could do to help Vic.

Another couple of shots were fired and bullets clanged off the sides of the train.

'Don't sit down,' Calli said, springing out from behind the table and grabbing Lucy's arm. 'Apart from us crawling along the floor, there's no protection here. We need to get back to the sleeper car.'

The two women ran to the back of the carriage as the train screeched to a halt, then lurched violently as Vic threw it into reverse.

'I don't like Vic being up there with no way to get back,' Lucy said, her voice rising. As they entered the buffet car they found Adri and her father Mike, then Dave, Jake and B'nard heading forward.

'No, go back,' Calli said. 'The sleeper car has fewer windows.'

With the others crouched down in the lower deck of the sleeper, Jake and B'nard ran up the stairs and crept along the carpeted landing to the front windows. Up there the height of the upper deck provided a panoramic view.

Jake and B'nard peered between the slats of the blinds as they felt the train gathering pace. Before it was lost behind the curve, they saw a level crossing.

Jake shouted down to those on the lower deck.

There's a crossing. It's blocked by two road trucks and there's a bunch of grim-looking characters with guns.

A moment later, the alarming scene had vanished behind the trees surrounding the line. Vic shunted them backwards at a smart lick, until they were clear of the woods.

Calli thumped the intercom switch while grabbing the mic to call the engine. Lucy was right behind her so Calli stood aside and let her speak into the mic.

'Vic, Vic? Are you alright up there?'

'Yeah, Lucy, we're both fine. Calli there?'

'Sure. You want to speak to her?'

'Just ask if she thinks it's safe to stop.'

Calli shook her head. 'Not yet, take us back into clear country.'

A kilometre back from woods concealing the level crossing and on a straight section of track with open fields on both sides, Vic stopped the train.

'Vic, why've you stopped?' Calli called, 'Don't you think they'll send an engine down after us?'

'Doubt it.'

'Why not?'

'Road bandits. If they'd had anything that could run on the track, that's what they'd have used to block the crossing.'

Calli looked at Lucy. 'Do you think Vic's right about that?'

'Break out the guns, just in case.'

Chapter 2: Tactics

Jake and Adri were on the top deck of the sleeper having volunteered to keep lookout. At the front of the train, the diesel engine was ticking over, in case they needed to get moving in a hurry. The rest of the party were drinking mugs of strong, sugary tea and trying to decide what to do next. It hadn't occurred to anyone that a gang might want to hold up the train by blocking the track so they couldn't pass. On the other hand, the last thing they wanted to do was go back the way they'd come.

Vic had worked forty years on the railways and he was confident they had time for a breather. He listened to the steady beat of the engine, then said, 'Lucky for us, some fool let off that first shot.'

'Lucky?' Lucy said, her voice rising in pitch. She grabbed Vic's arm and shook it, saying, 'What do mean lucky? You might have been killed.'

'I mean we'd be in a worse mess if I'd seen a couple of random looking trucks on the crossing and just cruised right up there before stopping.'

'You mean they planned to stay hid, then show themselves after you'd stopped?'

'Only way to run a hold-up.'

'I guess,' Lucy said sulkily.

'Except one of them got trigger-happy or careless,' Art said. 'For sure they were intending to jump us soon as we got down from the engine.'

Lucy stroked Vic's stubbly old chin and smiled. 'You're right, that would have been worse. Trust you to know what's best.'

'Thing is,' Vic said, 'what do we do now?'

Before anyone could do so, Calli knew they would turn and look to her for an opinion. She said, 'I'm thinking it's a pity you never worked this part of the network while you were a driver.'

'Nah, spent my life moving carriages and trucks from one siding to the next. We upped sticks to a different city a couple of times, didn't we babes?' Vic said, putting his arm around Lucy. 'But it was all a ways north of here.'

'So what do you suggest? Take a run at the crossing and break right through?' Art said.

Vic rubbed his chin and stared into the distance. When his eyes focussed back in the carriage, he said, 'I believe I noticed the track forked a ways back. Anyone else see that?'

Calli shrugged. 'Anyone besides Art going to vote for ramming the crossing?'

There was a general shaking of heads.

'That would be a no from up here, too,' Adri called down from the top deck of the sleeper.

'So, we go back to the fork and try our luck there.'

Lucy raised her hand. 'My Vic got us out of that scrape at the crossing. He's going to finish his tea before we go charging off again,' she said firmly.

'While we do a thorough weapons check before we set off,' Mike said.

'Good idea,' B'nard said.

The remnants of Rat's biker gang had left some guns and ammo with Calli before they took off. In a single attack two thirds of Rat's outfit had been wiped out. Rat and his lieutenant, Snark, were also killed, attempting to capture a tank and overrun an army base. The plan had failed, and the gang members who were left took only what they could carry on their bikes.

While the younger members of the party went back to the freight car and assembled their guns, Lucy spoke quietly to Vic, 'Come on, old man, tell me what happened.' She spoke in a warm, comradely tone, born of the familiarity and affection of many years.

'Well,' Vic said, 'taking a bend you don't know, it's always a good idea to go steady.'

'Eyes more on the track than what was up ahead, then.'

'I watched the track, Art was watching the bend. I knew he'd seen something by the way he suddenly went stiff like a statue. Looked up and I saw the same thing he saw.'

'What?'

'Bunch of bandits at a crossing. Couple of trucks nose to nose, like crossing gates. Rifles pointing our way.'

'So you got down on the floor?'

'Dropped it into neutral and let the dead-man's handle do its job stopping the train. Soon as we'd stopped, I reached up, flipped it in into reverse and grabbed for the dead-man's handle.'

'I hope you kept your head down.'

Vic nodded. 'That's when the darn fools started firing again. Soon as they realised we were off.'

'Like that was going to stop you.'

Chapter 3: Pursuit

On a sudden impulse, Calli stood up and ran to the door in the side of the buffet car. She touched the button to open it and peered out cautiously, back in the direction of the level crossing. She turned back sharply to find herself almost tripping over the others.

'What's up, Calli?' Vic said.

Mike, who guessed what Calli was thinking, called up the stairs to Jake and Adri, 'Adri, you still got all clear up there?'

'Haven't seen anything moving,' Jake said.

'No, wait!' Adri shrieked. 'I can see someone moving at the edge of those trees.'

'Jake, what's happening?' Calli demanded.

Before she could answer, Vic was at the door. 'There's something coming down the track, he said. 'Those dumb bandits are trying to follow us in a big four-wheel drive.'

Calli looked again and saw a black shape, like a giant beetle. It emerged from the trees, straddling the rails. As it bobbed and bounced over the sleepers, it spat gravel to either side. A puff of smoke from the side of the vehicle made Calli duck back inside the car as a bullet whistled past. It had gone wide but she cursed herself for taking chances.

There was still a bit of a curve to the track, so there was a chance Vic could get back to the engine without being seen. One glance at Calli's face told Vic all he needed to know: their survival depended on him alone. He dived out of