Chapter 21

In that moment, I officially decide Calyx is a lunatic.

I must have been just as stupid, because I slowly began edging closer to the exit. With the vehicle going so fast, it wasn't hard for the wind to completely knock your feet out from under you. And that's exactly what it did. One moment my feet were firmly planted on the ground, the next I am in the air, flailing my limbs around helplessly.

I expect to be whipped away from the train, but instead it's as if I'm trapped in some sort of wind tunnel. The tunnel leads me directly to the roof of the train, almost throwing me down on the top. I grunt on impact, the breath being knocked from within my lungs.

"I told you terrible ideas were the best kind of ideas." Calyx says as she leans over me and laughs.

"What the hell was that thing?"

"I like to call it the tunnel of destiny. In reality, though, it's a mode of transportation found only on Jotunn vehicles that help them get from place to place on the train without having to use ladders or any other mode of transportation. It's called something super original—a wind tunnel." She shrugs with a chuckle.

"That's insane."

"Welcome to 2117, sweetheart." She chuckles and redirects her attention to several cars ahead of us. "Alright, sweetcheeks, here's the deal. The control room, the cockpit, whatever you wanna call it, is about three cars ahead. Once we get there, there is a skylight that will gain us entrance. However, it's a risky move, but it's the only one we got."

"Why is it risky?" I ask with a churning stomach.

"We can easily be spotted. It's very important we stay where they can't see us. Luckily, Jotunn have a great many blind-spots due to how their suits are engineered, so we have that going for us."

"Sounds like a great plan." I say sarcastically.

"Every plan of mine is a great plan. Don't forget that. That's important. You might want to take notes."

I roll my eyes.

"Alright, Bay. Let's get this show on the road." She says before adding, "Because of how fast the train is moving, we need to inch our way forwards on our stomach. We don't want to get sucked into another wind tunnel. Now, follow my lead."

+++

Calyx's hands grip the side bars that line the roof of the train, sliding along her stomach until she reaches the skylight. I follow close behind, inching my way closer to her until we are side by side. She unlocks the latch to the skylight as quietly as possible, helping it along the way so it doesn't slam against the roof. She grabs her weapon from her back pocket, signaling for me to do the same with the one she had given me moments before.

"I'm going to need you to get over to the other side of the hatch." She says so quietly I can barely hear her. "That way we have a vantage point from both angles."

I nod and begin to edge myself along the side of the train's roof. For a split moment, I lose my grip and tumble slightly. My hand snags the bar as my feet fall over the side, kicking the window. I pull myself up as quick as I can, but it's already too late. The thud of my foot alerted the Warriors in the cockpit.

"Fall back!" Calyx yells.

A bullet from a Warriors gun is fired off, slipping through the open hatch. I scramble back, falling off the edge once again. My fingers barely manage to snag the side railing, leaving me holding on one-handedly. Calyx slides over to me, quickly pulling me up as a Warrior surfaces from the hatch. I am back on my stomach, edging my way back towards the caboose when the Jotunn fires a shot at Calyx, hitting her right in her lower left calf. A scream tears from her throat as she goes over the edge, her fingers snagging the railing opposite of me. I face the Warrior who climbs out of the hatch, starting towards me.

"Hang on!" I yell to Calyx, having no choice but to face the Jotunn approaching me.

"Not like I have anything else to do." She snaps back.

I ready my gun and stand shakily onto my feet, the wind whipping me around. There's a surfacing fear rising in me that I might fall, but I don't have a choice. I have to fight. I approach the Jotunn, gun at the ready. Once in arms reach, I prepare to shoot but the Warrior's arm juts out and knocks the gun from my grip. I watch in complete fear and shock as the weapon sails over the side of the train and is gone from sight. With heart thundering, I face the Jotunn Warrior once more, my fists now formed and ready to strike. I size up my opponent, looking for any weak spots on his suit before the initial charge. The first thing I need to do is get that helmet off of his head and have access to his face so the blows do more damage.

All at once, we charge each other. A scream of determination leaves my lips as the Warrior and I collide with each other, falling to the ground as we each fight to establish dominance. As we fumble on the ground, I work quickly to remove his helmet. In a matter of seconds it falls off and disappears over the side of the vehicle. For a brief second, I'm stunned. I didn't expect to see the misshapen face of a man staring back at me.

His left eye is foggy, clearly blind in that eye. His face broken and bruised, crushed by something that I don't want to know about. The man's nose is broken in many places and his upper lip appears to have been cut off. Had I not already known what the Jotunn were, I'm not sure I'd be able to recognize this man as once being a human being.

I regain my senses and pull my fist back, aiming a blow at his already broken nose. His forearm quickly blocks my blow, my knuckles cracking on impact. As I retract my hand, his knee comes up and begins to hit me repeatedly just below my breasts. I cry out and throw an elbow, striking him in the jaw before getting thrown off of my opponent. I stumble back onto my feet, only to have him kick at my ankles. My legs fly out from underneath me and I land hard, falling flat on my butt.

Even with the breath knocked out of me, I get to my feet as fast as possible, standing before he has a chance to make another blow. Before I could even regain the breath I lost, the Warrior charges me once again, giving me no chance to recuperate. I brace myself, waiting for the right time to jump. In one swift move, I boost myself off of the roof and manage to hook my leg around his neck. My hand wraps around and grabs my ankle as I yank down hard on him, causing the two of us to go down hard onto the roof.

It doesn't take long for the Warrior to shake me off of him, sending me sprawling across the slippery roof of the train. He comes over and grabs me by my ankles and slams me around. My face hits the surface hard multiple times before he releases. I lay there for a grand total of eleven seconds as I try to process what the hell just happened. My entire body feels numb as I stumble to my feet, a headache beginning to occur. I look to my feet and notice a puddle of blood from where my face had split open after being slammed multiple times. As I stand there in a daze, the Warriors approaches once more and punches me right in my nose. I stumble backwards, hands clasping my nose as the warm feeling of blood fills the palm of my hand. I pull my hands back and look at the misshapen Warrior.

"You're so going to regret that." I growl, flinging myself at him.

Once I'm in arm's length, he throws his fist towards my face, but this time I am prepared. I use my forearms to block each punch he throws, dodging my head left and right to avoid his blows. I step back and get a running start before boosting myself up and connecting my foot to his chin. As we continue the fight, I find myself on his shoulders, my fists connecting with his head. When he turns around, I can see the upcoming tunnel ahead and my stomach turns.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I grumble underneath my breath.

In that brief moment of distraction, I am thrown from the Jotunn's shoulders and tossed to the roof. I have to get down and stay down. However, I need to keep this Jotunn standing in hopes that he hasn't already seen the tunnel. My mind snaps to Calyx, who still holds on for dear life onto the railing. I have to get her up, but there isn't time. My only hope is she can hold out and endure the wall grating against her back.

The Warrior comes to me, towering over me as his fists begin to reign terror on my face. I feel the blow to my eye, his fingers being thrown against my lips, then moving lower and hitting me repeatedly in my abdomen. I scream in pain, trying to gain dominance against him but to no avail. He then picks his foot up and slams it into my chin. I bite down on the moist flesh of my lip hard, biting a hole through my skin. The warm taste of copper fills my mouth. I have no choice but to swallow large amounts of blood, choking it down. Realizing that I couldn't keep taking these punches, I push myself into gear and fight back. I unpin myself from underneath his large body and turn the tables, forcing him on the bottom. I pin him down and throw hit after hit, not caring where my fists land.

The Jotunn wriggles his hands loose and begins hitting me time and time again in my lower abdomen. I clench my teeth and scream with every punch he lands. I just have to hold out until we enter that damned tunnel. I let my guard down for a brief second, trying to regain my breath. During that moment, the Jotunn flips me once more and pins me to the roof just in time.

The sun suddenly disappears from sight and we are in the dark. The tunnel had made its glorious arrival. An evil grin finds its way onto my swollen and bloody lips as the Warrior howls in pain, the top of the tunnel grating against his back relentlessly. The back of his suit begins to tear and eventually reveals his bare back, ripping this skin off as the tunnel ceiling continued to run against his back. Blood that drips from his back falls on my face. I can't decide whether to be grossed out or glad that he is suffering more than I am in that moment. As the Warrior continues to howl in pain, it alerts the second Warrior of his predicament. The second Warrior—and what I thought to be the last Warrior in the cockpit—pops his head out of the hatch too fast, hitting his head on the tunnels surface, ripping him out of the hatch and sending him sprawling. The second Warrior collides with the one that has me pinned to the ground, and the two nine foot tall beings go sailing over the edge and falling off the train.

Screams continue to come and I realize the screams are coming from Calyx, who still hangs onto the side of the vehicle. My eyes widen and I inch myself closer to the hatch, dropping down into it and looking at the controls that lined up against the base of the windshield. Her screams grow louder and louder, goosebumps surfacing along my arms as she cries out in pain. I realize that each time the shuttle takes a sharp turn in the narrow passageway, her back must be running against it. She can't get herself up, being that the sides if the shuttle have no footholds. So she hangs there helplessly, being torn apart by the walls. I realize I have to work fast and rush to the controls, trying to decide which lever is the brake. I decide to pull the largest red lever I can find. But as my hand goes to grab it, my feet are knocked out from under me and I get slammed into the front windshield, causing it to crack. A spider-webbed crack spreads across the window from where my body impacted it. All I can do is groan as I slide down to the ground, no breath left in my lungs.

My hand makes its way to my side and grabs out a large shard of glass. I grunt in pain as I remove the glass, staggering to my feet as I toss the blood-covered shard to the side. I look around for the source of the collision, vision blurry and slightly blocked due to a swollen cheek. There I make out the shape of a white figure. Another Jotunn Warrior. Just peachy.

"There's a third one?" I say to myself, not sure if I'm shocked or pissed. I'm mentally and physically drained and don't know how I'm going to fight off another one of these guys. The screams of Calyx continue to fill my ears, making me feel sick. Right then and there, I did possibly the dumbest thing I could have done. I lunge for the brake. The Jotunn swats me down and slams me into the ground. I grunt loudly, rolling onto my side as I hold my stab wound from the shard of glass. I begin to get tunnel vision, shaking my head and doing my best to fight off the feeling.

I stumble back to my feet, deciding I have no other choice but to fight. I look at the Warrior, then the brake, and back at the Jotunn once more. He is the only thing standing between me and Calyx's saving grace.

"I'm going to need you to move." I say, caution evident in my voice.

"Not going to happen." Its deep voice booms at me, taking up a defensive stance.

We stare each other down for another seven seconds. This nine foot tall Warrior isn't about to budge. It would be his way, or no way at all. I take a step towards him and he mirrors my move. When I move back, so does he. Stepping to my left and to my right, he follows.

"You aren't going to make this easy, are you?" I say, frustration evident in my voice.

"Are you?" Even though I can't see his face, I can feel his lips curling into a smirk as he utters those two words.

I officially decide I'm not shocked, I am most definitely pissed. This Warrior learns quickly which buttons to push, more so than any other Jotunn did. This Jotunn Warrior in particular could read me like a book, and he uses that to his advantage. I can't think of anything that infuriates me more than being mocked and taunted. I hate when people mock me. It makes my skin crawl and heat rush to my face. My face will turn red in rage and I will feel the need to hit something, but never someone. I despise condescending tones and mockery. I think everyone deserves respect, not just the elders. Which stems back to New York laws, respecting the elders but the elders have every right to disrespect its' youth. It's infuriating to me. The rules make me a ticking time bomb, just say one wrong thing, mock me, disrespect me, and I'll crack under pressure and then boom. The bomb explodes.

Muffled screams continue to flood in, the sounds of Calyx's heartbreaking screams making me sick to my stomach. I realize I have very few options to choose from, and none of them have a good outcome. There is no way to go through this without getting injured, battered, or bruised. These plans that pop into my head would all suck.

The first plan seems simple—not to mention obvious—but also very stupid. Make a jump for the brake, but risk getting myself killed in the process.

Another cry for help echoes into my ears.

The next plan—fight the Warrior that stands before me. Again, seems simple and obvious. However, being that I fought off a Jotunn just moments earlier, my energy is depleted and I would most likely get my—pardon my language—ass kicked.

Over Calyx's sobs, I can hear the voice of Casper and Willow. They're hatching up a plan to help both Calyx and myself. I wish they'd hurry it along.

Then came option three. Get help. If I wanted any chance at surviving—for both myself and for Calyx—I need help. My blue eyes dart towards the barricaded door. There isn't a way I can help from my end, so I now must depend on Casper and the others. Black hair falls into my face and sticks to the sticky red substance that coats my forehead and cheeks. I bite into my lower lip.

"Willow," I hear Casper say, "We need to get through the door. Ideas?"

Willow takes three seconds to respond. "One of the guns given to us is an old fashion gun, probably over one hundred years old."

"So?" Avery growls.

"It uses gunpowder for ammo."

By now, I'm sure Willow is getting excited, and Casper is nodding furiously in agreement with her plan. I'm sure Avery stands by, kind of impressed by Willow but acting as if she couldn't care less. I'm sure Demetria and Diego are helping, because they're New Yorker's and it's what we do. New Yorker's are selfless people, despite the tales of what New York used to be like a hundred or so years ago. From stories I've heard from my Father, New York was once a magnificent place, having buildings that scraped the sky, making a person feel as small as an ant feels to a human.

"Magnificent, breathtaking buildings." My father called them. "But according to my father, and his father, and so on so forth, the people were crude, hateful. Living in such a beautiful, unique city couldn't cleanse a hateful heart."

And yet, New York somehow became the Pure State, one of the kindest states on earth, except for Oklahoma, which literally was the Friendly State, color pink.

"Explosions." Casper says, a hint of hope to his sight. "We need a match."

"In the backpack." Willow directs him.

My eyes snap over to the red lever. I summon all the courage I have within me to do what I do next. I release a breath that I hadn't been aware I was holding in and called out for Casper. My legs carry me in a short jog before I leap off the ground towards the brake with hands outstretched.

"Stay back!" He shouts. I hear their feet running on the metal floor to clear out of the blast zone.

I feel my small, five foot five body knocked back into the brake. My back pops and a scream leaves my lips as a small explosion rattles my ears. The barricade shoots all directions but ultimately clears the door. The brake shifts beneath my body and final takes the needed action. Orange sparks light up the tunnel, the wheels grabbing at the rails to slow down the shuttle. The Jotunn falls aside and blood pools beside him as he bleeds out of his suit. I catch a brief glimpse of him and realize he was impaled by shrapnel from the explosion. Good riddance to that bastard. Screams from Calyx continue to fill my ears. By now her back is raw and bleeding a waterfall of crimson, bits of her flesh scattering the portion of tunnel we left behind us.

I remain slouched against the brake, back aching and ribs hurting. My face is a swollen mess and blood runs from a gash in my temple down to my chin where it drips onto the floor. My vision begins to blur as I see the outlines of what looks to be Casper and Diego coming to my aid.

"Hang on, Bay. Hang on." The voice sounds so distant, as if they are in another room. My vision slowly fades to black as consciousness leaves me.

+ + +

During my time of unconsciousness, I think and dream of my father. The things he used to do when he was still alive. The time stuck in my mind happens to be three months ago, a month before he disappeared from our lives. Three months ago was when I started to openly defy my mother. Ever since I turned eighteen we butted heads a lot more than we normally had. Don't get me wrong, my mother and I never really got along to begin with, but things escalated after my eighteenth birthday. We never truly saw eye to eye with each other initially, but now there was no reasoning with each other. There was no middle