Chapter Four

Holly

Who the hell did that man think he was? Making fun of me for my breakup when he was the one traipsing off to try to convince his ex-wife to come back to him. At least I never acted like that with Ben. Of course, I've only had a couple of weeks to stew in the crazy, so maybe I just haven't reached the point where I'm ready to fling myself upon him and pretend that nothing had happened, and we were going to ring in the New Year together.

I made my way reluctantly back to my seat, not looking forward to having to wedge myself back into the corner next to my slumbering travel companion. When I arrived, I saw that he had overtaken the arm between the two seats and, much like a jar of slime that has been tipped over on its side, was now oozing over into my seat. I wasn't feeling any interest in being a part of that, so I reached into the overhead compartment and took out the smaller of my bags before making my way through the cars to the cafe.

Not as fancy as the lounge with its bar complete with bartender who seemed to never be affected by the swaying of the train, the cafe looked very much like someone had scooped up a concession stand from a small hospital and dropped it into one of the train cars. I walked up to the grey counter where a woman stood, staring into the distance as if she was trying to put herself anywhere else. When she noticed I was there, she looked at me, her eyes getting a distinct look of relief like I was probably one of the very few, if any, people who came into this car so late at night.

"Bagel and cream cheese, please," I said.

"That's it? I can't get you an eggnog or a candy cane cheese danish?"

I grimaced.

"What is a candy cane cheese danish?"

"It's just a cheese danish with some crushed up candy canes on it. It's supposed to be festive."

"No, thank you. Just the regular bagel and cream cheese. And a cup of coffee."

"It's pretty late to be drinking coffee. Can I get you a decaf?"

I glared at her, not wanting to destroy the respite from her loneliness that I was apparently giving her, but also not wanting to have to strangle her and ruin the trip for everyone.

"No. Caf. Extra caf if you have it."

"You're never going to get any rest."

"You'd be surprised."

The truth was I was such a heavy sleeper that even pumping myself full of caffeine right before bedtime couldn't stop me from being totally dead to the world within minutes of resting my head. Which is how I ended up getting tossed to the floor of the cafe car some time later as the train came to a rough stop. The impact on the floor woke me up, but not enough that I was totally aware of what was going on. I mumbled and crawled around for a few seconds, trying to get my bearings and figure out how I had fallen out of bed and why I could hear people shouting in my bedroom. It took a few moments before it clarified in my mind that I wasn't on the floor of my bedroom, but in the cafe car where I had curled up hobo-style on one of the long benches along one wall and fallen asleep to what had then been the gentle rocking of the train.

I scrambled to my feet and looked around. The woman who had served me my coffee and bagel earlier looked unfazed as she replaced bags of potato chips on a display that must have tipped when the train stopped.

"What's going on?" I asked.

She looked up at me and gave a small smile.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Right up until I fell off the bench. Why isn't the train moving? Are we already at the station?"

"No. Not yet. Looks like we have a little delay. Happens all the time."

"Why?"

"Could be any number of things. Another train could be running late and be in our way. A car crash. The cold could have made the tracks unsafe ahead. Cows stopped on the tracks. We'll be up and moving in no time. Don't you worry."

Just as soon as those words were out of her mouth, all the lights in the train went off. There was a split second of absolute blackness before the tiny emergency lights started to glow along the top of the walls.

"Oh," the woman said.

"Oh?" I asked. "Oh? That's it?"

"Well, now it's looking like the train might have lost power. But, again, that happens. It's entirely possible that the engineer chose to turn off the power because he knows that the delay is going to be a bit and he doesn't want to waste the energy."

"That is very environmentally conscious of him."

I followed the faint glow of the lights to find my tablet and bag that had tumbled to the floor with me and sat back on the bench to wait out the power outage. The voices outside of the cafe car were getting louder and more desperate, and for a moment I worried that there was some kind of emergency happening that I wasn't aware of. The minutes ticked by and my nerves gradually amped up, making me feel sick to my stomach. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

"Hello?"

Vera's voice on the other end was a relief.

"Hey," I said.

"Holly? Are you OK? Is there something wrong?"

"No, no," I said, feeling guilty that I had worried her. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. I'm on the train. It's just delayed a little, so I thought that I would call and see how you're doing."

"Oh, good." She made a sound like she was thinking. "Nothing much is going on around here. I just finished packing and I'll be leaving in the morning. Since I don't have you here I'm going to have to take a scary taxi to the airport, thank you very much for that."

"Hey, don't give me that. I'm having to go off by myself because you have the gall and nerve to go spend the holidays with your family rather than staying with me and helping me nurse my broken heart."

Vera laughed.

"Alright, then we're even. But if I end up getting abducted by the driver, I expect you to fulfill all of their demands to get me back."

"I will," I promised.

"Good. Well, you just sit tight. I'm sure that the train will get started again soon and in a couple of days you will be embarking on your cruise and sailing off into a week of fun in the sun."

"I can't wait."

What I could wait for was having to deal with the half-day long layover and then switching trains for another long stretch before arriving in the port city only to sit in a hotel for a day before embarkation. It was the only itinerary that worked out and just the thought of it had been enough to make me even less thrilled with the thought of the trip. But it would all be worth it once I was finally on the ship and the land, and everyone on it, was far behind me.

"If you get a chance to lift your head up out of your tropical drinks, give me a call to check in. If not, I'll see you when we both get home."

"Have fun with your family."

"Merry Un-Christmas."

"You, too."

I hung up, feeling slightly better, but the minutes continuing to tick by with the lights still off and the train still not moving quickly brought back the nerves. Soon I was up pacing around the car, using the meager illumination to stop me from running into the tables. The woman behind the counter still didn't seem bothered by the situation, but I was well past using her as any type of barometer. Suddenly the door to the car flew open and I saw a frazzled-looking conductor standing in the doorway holding a battery-operated lantern high enough that I could see his face clearly. It was the same one who had tried to defuse my feud with the seat-stealer at the beginning of the trip. He glared directly at me.

"You need to get out."

My mouth dropped open.

"Look, I know that I overreacted some to the seat thing, but that was over hours ago. I really don't think that it's necessary to…"

"I mean you need to get out of the cafe car. You shouldn't be in here when the power is out. Haven't you heard any of the announcements?"

"What announcements?"

"The train has lost all power and it will not be able to be restored tonight. Everyone must disembark. The engineers hope that the issues will be resolved by tomorrow and that we will be able to continue on tomorrow night or the next morning, but there is no guarantee. For now, all passengers must get off the train and find alternative accommodations for the night."

I stared at him in stunned silence, sure that he was going to tell me that it was a joke and that the train would be starting any second. Instead, he gestured toward the door.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Several cab companies have been dispatched and cars are waiting to bring passengers into the nearby towns to find hotels or alternative transportation."

"That's it? There's nothing else that can be done?"

"Not at this time, ma'am. Those are the rules."

He said it with a hint of a sneer in his voice and I shot him an angry glare before walking out of the cafe car and starting toward my seat, so I could get my other bag. The loss of power to the train seemed to have extended to the brains of the passengers and they all seemed to no longer be able to function properly. People were shouting and pushing, trying to force themselves both directions down the aisle toward the exits. The way that they were behaving I would have expected there to be a fire or some other disaster rather than just a dead train, but as I felt myself being pushed against the wall and people stepping on my feet, some of the chaos started to seep into me and I felt suddenly frantic to get out of the train. I used my height to my advantage and started pushing my way through the crowd in the somewhat disorienting near-darkness, eventually resorting to climbing up on the vacated seats and squeezing myself through the gap at the top of the seats so that I could get to where I had been sitting before moving to the cafe. It was empty now and I took a moment to ruminate on the irony of the situation. I finally had my seat to myself and no passed out man encroaching on my space, and now I had to leave it.

The train was emptying out and I stepped into the aisle to reach into the overhead compartment and get my bag. It swung down and hit me in the back of the head, causing spots to dance in front of my eyes. This trip was just getting more disastrous with every turn. By the time that I stumbled out of the train and onto the ground, I realized that the train had nearly made it to a tiny loading platform nestled beside a station that appeared to be sleeping. I felt like if all of the passengers had worked together and shifted our weight inside the train we might have been able to scoot it all the way to the platform. As of now, though, passengers were making the somewhat precarious descent from the train to the ground and scurrying toward the station. I didn't see any of the cars that had supposedly been dispatched, but over the din of the voices I could hear engines, which told me that the fleet was out front of the station. I scooped up my bags and started toward the station, then had the sinking thought that I had left my phone sitting on the table in the cafe. I eyed the station, noting that there were still plenty of people streaming toward it, and turned to hop back on the train. The cars were eerily quiet as I made my way back to the cafe, and I felt my stomach sink when I saw that the door to the cafe was closed.

A thought occurred to me and I walked up to the door. The emergency procedures were posted on the door, confirming my hunch. Without the electricity, the doors would not lock. I tucked my fingers in between the doors as the instructions showed me and pried them open. A felt a sense of relief when I saw my phone sitting there on the table where I had left it and had a sudden compulsion to apologize to it. I tucked the phone in my pocket and started back through the train, immediately noticing that the doors that I had come in through were closed. I continued on, finding more and more closed exit doors, and realized that I was the only one left on the train. Panic shot through me.

Was I trapped?

Was there any way to get out of here?

How much air did a closed passenger train have in it?

I was on the brink of absolutely losing all control when I heard voices ahead of me in the train. I started toward them, creeping down the aisle as quietly as I could, assuming that sneaking back onto an evacuated train and getting locked into it wasn't going to earn me any points with the staff.

"Thanks again for letting me back on. I can't believe I forgot this."

"It's alright. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that you find acceptable accommodations for the night. The railway appreciates your business and I assure you that we will make our best effort to compensate you appropriately."

Hey. Why didn't I get an apology and a promise of compensation?

I got to the middle of a car and saw the people ahead of me. The door to the train was open and someone was stepping out of it. I couldn't figure out a way to slip out and I watched as the conductor shut the door again. Muttering profanities to myself under my breath, I rushed up to the door and tried to pry it open the way I had with the cafe door. It wouldn't budge. I looked through the window and saw the shadowy figure of the person who had just climbed off stepping away from the train. I pounded with a flattened palm on the window and gestured wildly, hoping the person saw me. When I heard the conductor's footsteps coming back toward me, I ducked out of sight.

The conductor walked up to the door and opened it.

"Is everything alright? Did you forget something else?"

"Um," a familiar voice said. "Yes. I can't seem to find my tablet. I just need to check my room one more time."

His voice was firm and unyielding, not asking permission but informing the conductor of his intentions and expressing his expectation that the man would give him his way because there wasn't any other option. Yet there wasn't anything demanding about the words, creating a powerful balance that instantly put the conductor under his control. I watched from my hiding place as the conductor stepped out of the way and allowed the figure to step up into the car. I gritted my teeth when I saw that it was Graham. They started down the aisle and I rushed out of the door, jumping down from the train and scurrying into the shadows again. I suddenly felt like I had a new appreciation for city rats.

"Actually, here it is," I heard Graham say from inside the train. "I guess I don't need to go back there after all."

"Not a problem at all, sir. We're sorry again and look forward to having you travel with us again as soon as the train has been restored."

Graham stepped out of the train and gathered the bags that he had set down. The doors to the train closed and I started toward the platform, confident now that the conductor couldn't see me.

"What the hell was that all about?" he called from behind me.

"Excuse me?" I asked, turning around to face him.

"What were you doing creeping around in the train?"

"I had to go back in for my phone."

"What did you think they were going to do to you? Throw you in train jail?"

I felt heat burn across my cheeks and was thankful for the darkness, so he couldn't see. I turned back around and pushed ahead toward the platform. Everything was quiet now and I had an unpleasant feeling about approaching the station. The doors were locked when I pulled on them and I peered inside to see that it was totally empty and dark. Doing my best to hold out hope in my heart, I walked around the side of the building toward the front, telling myself that I was going to get there and that there would be a clean, well-maintained car with a properly identified driver waiting for me. I reached the front sidewalk only to find the drop-off and pick-up lane in front of the station empty.

"Dammit!" I shouted, then let out a growl of frustration.

"What's wrong?" Graham asked as he came around to me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking around. "Seriously? What's wrong? There are no cars. No cabs. No anything. How are we supposed to get anywhere tonight?"

He looked at me with an incredulous expression and pulled out his phone. He looked down at it and I saw his expression change.

"Shit. No signal."

"Great. Now what’s your plan?”

"Well, I don't see you jumping to our rescue."

I pulled out my phone and looked down at it, immediately noticing that I also had no service.

"We must seriously be in the middle of nowhere."

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"We?" I asked. "We? What makes you think that there's a 'we'?"

"Because the two of us are the only people in the immediate area and it just seems to make sense that we should try to figure out a solution together rather than both of us looking for options separately."

"Well, I'll have you know that I am perfectly fine looking for solutions on my own and I don't need you to help me."

"Fine."

I gathered my bags and started away from the station, having literally no idea where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there. The cold night air was closing in around me and I ducked my head down to try to keep my face out of it. I was nearing the edge of the illumination that was cast by the meager parking lot lights when I heard something scream in the distance. It sounded like an animal, but I couldn't identify it. The second scream was distinctly louder, and I jumped, turning to run back toward the station. Maybe I could fashion a shelter out of a bench and my bathing suits.

Graham was standing only a few steps behind me and he smirked when he saw me run.

"It's certainly a good thing that you are so in control and don't need any help."

"Shut up."

"Look, neither of us is thrilled with this situation, but there's no reason to make it any worse than it already is. So why don't you grow up, shut your mouth, and just start walking. If they called out cabs, there has to be a town somewhere. We'll find it and then we can get hotel rooms for the night and move on."

"Fine."

I tightened my grip on my bags, feeling them slip on my cold fingers even through my gloves as we made our way down a road that had shifted from pavement to gravel.

"Do you want me to carry those for you?" he asked.

"No, I don't need you to carry them for me."

"I didn't ask if you needed me to, I asked if you wanted me to. I'm trying to be nice, but you are making it really fucking hard. This is already a pretty shitty night. You could at least make an effort."

"It's not like my image of the perfect evening is trudging through the freezing cold weather with a pissed off near-stranger."

"Of course, I'm pissed off. Why wouldn't I be pissed off? I am supposed to be on my way to see my son for Christmas, and instead I'm wandering around in Bumfuck, Egypt."

"Oh, that's not how that's pronounced."

The slow drawl seemed to come out of nowhere behind me and I turned around to see a dark-haired man sitting on the seat of a tractor that was hitched to a small hay-filled wagon. I had to blink to make sure that I was actually seeing him and not some strange cold-induced mirage.

"What?" Graham asked.

"That's not how that's pronounced. It's Boo-Ma-Foo-Kwa." He drew out each syllable carefully as if to make sure that we could get it into our minds for the next time that we needed to say it. "They get real testy when people pronounce it incorrectly. They say it comes from some sort of cultural heritage, but I think that's a load of foo-kwa myself, if you know what I mean. If you ask me, they just made it up trying to sound all sophisticated. Anyway, if that's where you're going, it's just up the road a piece. Now, Egypt, that's nowhere around here." He gave a deep belly laugh for a few seconds, then stopped suddenly silent, his face assuming a sternly serious expression. "It's in Africa. I don't know if they have their own Boo-Ma-Foo-Kwa themselves, but if that's where you're heading, I dare say you got yourself turned around quite a bit."

"Who are you?" I asked.

It came out rougher than I had intended, but the man on the tractor didn't seem to notice. He gave me a pleasant smile.

"I'm Boom Boom Badge."

I blinked a few times, unsure if I had actually just heard what I thought that I did.

"I'm Graham Castle," Graham said.

"Castle?" I asked, glancing over at him. "Seriously?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Nope, and what might your name be?"

I looked back at the man.

Boom Boom? Did he seriously say Boom Boom? He had to be fucking kidding me.

"Holly Abbott."

"Holly," he said with a grin. "This must be your favorite time of the year."

I smiled through my gritted teeth, not wanting to lash out at the one living person we had encountered since leaving the train.

"Boom Boom, was it?"

"Yes, ma'am. Named after my grandpa."

"That's lovely. So, Boom Boom, the thing is, we really don't know where we are. We were on a train and it broke down and all the cabs were taken and…"

I felt myself talking faster and faster, as if my words were tumbling down a hill and I wasn't able to get control of them. I felt Graham step up beside me and I fell silent.

"We've found ourselves in a little bit of a lurch, you see," Graham said. "We both have places that we're trying to get to, but it seems like we won't be able to get there tonight. We're looking for somewhere to stay for the night, so we can head back out tomorrow."

"You two aren't traveling together?" Boom Boom asked, eyeing us with a slight edge of suspicion in his voice.

"No," both of us said at the same time.

I shook my head.

"No," I repeated. "We just happened to be on the same train. We're headed in two different places."

"Well, the only place that's close by here is Whiskey Hollow, but lucky for you that's where I'm from and I was getting ready to head back there now. You are welcome to come along with me and see if you can get yourself a room at the motel."

I gave a sigh of relief.

"That sounds great. Thank you so much."

"Hop aboard," he said with a wider grin.

"Oh," I said. "On the wagon?"

"Sure. You see a better way? Climb on."

"You heard him," Graham said. "Hop aboard."

I picked up my bags and followed Graham toward the wagon. Tossing them over the side, I sent up a quick prayer of thanks that I hadn't gone for a travel dress, and swung my leg up and over to climb into the hay. I slipped as I brought my other leg up and landed hard on my ass, giving me a brief moment of panic that I might have broken through the seemingly aged wood. Fortunately, it held and Boom Boom cranked the tractor.

"This is cozy," I muttered as we started chugging our way toward a darkened field ahead.

"What was that?" Boom Boom asked over his shoulder.

"Nothing," I called back.

"Alright." He turned his attention back ahead of him for a moment then leaned back again. "You didn't happen to run into a man named BillyBob while you were on that train, did you?"

"BillyBob?" Graham asked.

"Yeah. Looks exactly like me. Just older and taller. Blond hair. Blue eyes. A scar down one cheek. Got about 50 pounds on me."

So exactly like you, but nothing at all like you. Perfect.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't think I met anyone by that name or description on the train."

Boom Boom gave a sigh.

"Didn't think so. He wasn't ever too much for trains. Rode them occasionally, but I don't think that he'd do it by choice if he didn't have to."

"BillyBob?"

Boom Boom nodded.

"My brother."

He didn't explain any further and neither of us asked anymore. I had a feeling that was a story that I just didn't have the time or patience to deal with now that I was dedicating all of my energy to clinging to the wagon and shivering until my teeth chattered.