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"Why is this train flying?" Lulu pointed out the window. "There's plenty of room down there for tracks. It's only flying because it seems high-tech, and everyone want everything to be 'high-tech' whether it serves a purpose or not."

Bryce sighed and sat down. "I don't care, Tri-Lu. Should we check around the train once more?"

Lulu didn't answer and kept staring out the window with an odd expression. Bryce heard gasps and then looked out the window as well. He could see in the distance the other train and it looked like parts of it were exploding. "I guess we have the wrong train."

"I'm not sure you can call the non-exploding train the 'wrong' one," Lulu answered.

The other train looked like it was descending. "You can when you have millions invested in the exploding one."

"I hope Charlene and Doug are okay." She turned and faced Bryce. "I don't care if Lara is okay."

"I figured." Bryce looked around the car. "You think this thing has an emergency brake?"

"It might if it were on the ground."

* * * *

For a moment, Doug could only stare in disbelief. The four women with Handler began shooting and stabbing the passengers while Handler just watched and smiled. People pleading for their lives were struck down, and then the horrifying realization hit Doug that this was going to keep happening unless he did something.

He ripped the sword from the hidden sheath on his back and cut through one of the Amazons just as she was about to shoot another passenger. Blood splashed on his face but his mind was racing from too much adrenal to care. The others kept killing, not paying Doug any attention. He stabbed one who was armed with a short sword and then remembered his gun.

He tossed his sword to his left and hand and drew his gun to Handler's head who looked back at him with amusement. "You seem to be taking this personally."

"You're insane!" Doug screamed at her. The two other remaining Amazons paused to watch, allowing those left alive time to flee, but Doug could hear gunfire both in front of him and behind him on the train.

Handler still looked at him as if this were all some big joke. "If sanity is defined as having an accurate perception of reality, then we're the only sane ones on this train."

"Stop this or I will kill you!"

She laughed. "You should threaten people with things they're afraid of, dear." The other two laughed as well as began to leave the car.

The mixture of confusion and rage was a bit much for Doug's brain. He couldn't remember much of what happened next, but his ears were ringing from gunfire when he walked into another car. There were men and women huddled on the floor there, not having anywhere to flee for safety. "Don't kill us!" one yelled at him.

"I'm with Hellbender; I'm here to help. Stay here." Doug wrested control of himself again. He couldn't quite understand what was going on and why, but he was able to break it down into something simple he could understand: He had to kill all the bad people.

A bullet broke the glass to the door to the next car. Doug charged forward. Some vehicle had crashed through the side of the train and was lodged into it. He saw someone in full body armor armed with a rifle standing among dead bodies. "Are you Doug?" she asked.

"Yes." Doug fired at her, but the bullets only knocked her back slightly as she fired back wildly. Doug dived to the ground and heard more gunfire though no bullets struck anywhere near him. He looked up to see Charlene standing over the soldier fire down. "Charlene!"

She looked at him. "What the hell is happening here?"

Doug got himself off the ground. "I don't know! They're after me or something! Where's Bryce and Lulu?"

Charlene reloaded. "They're on the other train."

He saw Lara enter the car, and he ran over and placed his sword to her neck. "You're behind this! This was a setup!"

"How does that make any sense?" Lara shouted back angrily.

Charlene pulled Doug away. "I don't trust her either, but she just helped me fight off a couple armed gunmen so let's keep things in perspective. What we need right now is to get out of here." She looked at the transport lodged in the wall. "Maybe this vehicle still works."

Lara shook her head. "Too risky. The train is going for an emergency landing. The best bet is defending this position until we're on the ground and can make a getaway." She looked to Doug. "Do you have the cube?"

Doug felt an odd lump in his jacket. He didn't remember pocketing it but figure he must have during the initial commotion. He felt like just chucking it out the hole in the wall. More gunfire snapped him back to the matter at hand. "They're going to kill everyone if we don't stop them."

"Maybe we weren't the only ones smart enough to ride the train armed," Lara said. "To be honest, I don't really see why we should care either way."

Charlene grabbed his arm and looked him in the eyes. "We need to worry about ourselves right now. We don't know how many there are or how well they're armed. Defending this position is the smart thing to do."

Doug thought he heard more screaming. "How many times did we need help and there was no one there?"

"Yes, Doug. So what do we owe any of these people?"

He didn't know how to argue with that, but he knew he was right. He pulled off Charlene's grip. "I'm going."

"If you're going to run off and get killed, at least give us the cube," Lara said.

"Go to hell." Doug exited the car towards the sound of gunfire. He was back in the car filled with people who had fled from both directions. He glanced back to see if Charlene was following him, but he was alone again. "Everyone go back a car!" he yelled to the people there. "There's two women there who will keep you safe." Doug marched forward.

An explosion shook the train and knocked him to the ground. He looked back to see they were ripped apart from Charlene's car. They were also plummeting quite quickly. He didn't remember much after that.

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Hellbender Take Two
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