Runaway Train

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Jasper Montague blinked. Then he blinked again, this time rapidly and repeatedly. It didn’t change a thing. He still couldn’t quite fathom his surroundings. He looked around for his friends and saw all three sprawled on the floor, unconscious.

Or, maybe not unconscious, he thought. Maybe they were frozen, like happened yesterday as they hiked up the mesa to get a view of Skinwalker Ranch. First, an insane wind came out of nowhere, its roar echoing and sounding like a runaway train in a tunnel. The next thing Jasper knew, his friends were frozen in place—all three seated on the ground with their heads between their knees and their hands pressing on their ears to block out the reverberating thunder of that wind. Seated several feet away, with his back against the rocks, Jasper hadn't been affected at all.

Well, that isn't true; he had been affected plenty. He had been terrorized by the experience. He just hadn't been paralyzed like the others.

So, maybe now, he thought, they're only frozen and not unconscious. The thought of this didn't seem so frightening since he knew it had only been temporary.

On the other hand, what if it’s neither. What if they’re…. dead.

Jasper’s heart raced with the thought of this possibility, and he silently admonished himself not to go there. Not even for one second. Instead, he looked at George and noticed how odd it was to see him lying face down with his arms spread wide but his legs close together. As if somehow, in his prone position, George thought he could fly.

“George?” His singly worded question came out as a whisper, and Jasper knew he sounded tentative and afraid, but he couldn't help it. He felt the kind of fear bubbling in his gut that threatened to catapult him into a full-blown panic. But panicking—something that came too easily and too often to Jasper—was simply not something he could afford to do right now.

Breathe, he told himself. Just… breathe.

“Molly? Milo? Can you guys hear me?” Jasper forced himself to speak louder, more assertively. He wanted to see if they were doing the eye-blinking thing they had done on the mountain. The thing that let him know they could hear him but couldn’t move. That let him know they weren’t dead. It's just that he felt so disoriented, Jasper didn’t think he could stand much less walk the few feet to his friends.

If I’m right, he thought, glancing at his immediate surroundings, we’re on some mega high-speed train that is moving so fast, so incredibly fast, I can’t even get a sense of what kind of landscape we’re passing to know where we are.

Or to figure out how we got here.

It all made Jasper feel a little crazy and a lot terrified. More terrified, in fact, than he could ever remember feeling—something he wouldn’t have thought possible given the events of their last twenty-four hours.

Jasper glanced toward George again before saying, “Guys?” in a voice that wasn't a whisper, but that sounded tinny to his ears. Tinny and… desperate.

He tried again, stronger. Louder. “Guys? Are you awake?”

Nothing. No response from anyone.

Sweat trickled down the back of Jasper’s neck and formed beads on his forehead. Swiping at it in frustration, before it dripped into his eyes, he took a deep breath and stood up. The world spun as he jammed his hands into his armpits and closed his eyes.

Breathe, he admonished himself again. Just breathe. If the last day of his life had taught Jasper anything, it was that he could withstand fears he had never even conjured in his worst nightmares. In a convoluted sort of way, Jasper found this thought comforting, so he opened his eyes and stood still, steadying himself by holding out his arms the way he'd seen gymnasts do on a balance beam. He had hoped for something to grab onto, but there was nothing available to him. No seats, no benches, no tables. Nothing. Only sterile looking, stainless-steel walls broken up by an unending series of bubbled glass windows that revealed a rushing blur of nothingness.

Staring out the windows left Jasper feeling so nauseous that he quickly looked away, only to notice that this train car seemed to go on forever. In all the movies he had ever watched, trains had a series of connecting cars filled with passengers, and maybe even had a dining hall where people went to have a meal. But this; this wasn’t a train like any Jasper had seen in the movies. Here, there were no passengers, no seats for passengers, and from what he could tell there were no connecting cars. Just this one infinitely long, antiseptic one.

Just as Jasper began to take a tentative step toward his friends, he heard George groan. Even knowing it was a groan borne of pain, to Jasper it was the most welcomed sound imaginable. It meant he wasn’t dead.

Forgetting how unstable he felt, Jasper rushed toward George.

“George? It’s me. Can you hear me?” He gently shook his friend’s shoulder.

George, Molly and Milo’s cousin, had been visiting when Jasper and the twins talked him into driving them to the infamous Skinwalker Ranch—the most studied place in the world for paranormal activity. At eighteen, George was three years older than the twins and Jasper, and unlike them he had both a driver’s license and a car. It took a little doing to convince him, but it was, after all, summer and they were all bored and hungry for an adventure. They had heard stories about Skinwalker Ranch all their lives, but even though it was less than thirty miles from where they live, neither the twins nor Jasper’s parents would even consider taking them out there.

But maybe George would.

What could go wrong, they told him. Nothing! After all, the 500-acre ranch is in an isolated area surrounded by little more than sagebrush, juniper trees, and a rugged, rocky mesa that runs parallel to it. They could set up camp where nobody could see them, and then they'd be able to find out for themselves if there really are Navajo Skinwalkers roaming the Ranch. None of them actually believed there were—they didn’t believe any of the folktales that had given them nightmares in elementary school. So, really, they said; there isn't much risk in going out there. And it sure would be fun.

True, all of them felt bad about lying to their parents, but they figured it would be the most exciting, bravest thing they’d ever done, and if they got caught; well, they could ask for forgiveness after the fact.

So, the three of them, friends since preschool, hounded George until he finally agreed to drive them out to Skinwalker Ranch for one night.

Of course, things didn’t happen as planned. Not even a little. From the moment they stepped onto the Ranch's property they experienced one terrifying event after another. And now, here they were on some runaway train going who knows where.

George groaned again as his hands flew to his head. “What in the—?” It sounded like he had a mouth full of cotton. “Wh… where are we?” He asked this as he rolled over to squint at Jasper.

As George scrambled to sit upright, it was clear he was feeling as disoriented as Jasper had initially. Giving him a hand, Jasper held onto his shoulder until he was pretty sure George wouldn’t keel over if left on his own.

“My head is… killing me,” George muttered, pressing in on his temples. Taking a quick glance around him, he said again, “Where are we? What is this?”

“I’m not 100% sure, but my best guess is that we’re on a train.” Jasper nodded toward one of the windows, making sure not to look at it. “An insanely fast train.”

George’s expression of surprise changed to one of worry as he caught sight of Molly and Milo. “Oh, God, are they unconscious?”

Before Jasper could answer, with the kind of synchronicity only they could manage, Molly and Milo emitted a strangled sounding grunt as their eyes flew open and they stared blankly at both George and Jasper. Within seconds the fog seemed to clear from their eyes and they both blinked repeatedly as they looked at one another.

“Holy crap, are we… dead?” Milo’s voice sounded raw as he squeaked out these words.

Molly slugged his shoulder.

“Don’t be an idiot.” Her voice didn’t sound squeaky at all. In fact, it sounded strong and clear.

“How could we be dead if we’re talking to each other?” She paused for a second before adding, "Besides, I don't think we'd have this kind of head pain if we were dead." She shook her head, as if to clear it. Then, looking around, her eyes widened as she took in their surroundings. “Holy smokes… is this what I think it is?”

“If what you think it is, is a train,” George said, sounding better than he had a few minutes earlier, “then, yeah… pretty sure it is.”

Milo cleared his throat. “Man, the last thing I remember is being at the top of the mesa and falling into some sort of well or cavern or something. We were all sitting there wondering how we would ever get out.”

As soon as Milo said this, a rush of memories stormed Jasper’s brain. “Oh man, that's right," he said. “We were like 200 feet down, and we all looked up and saw this blinding light coming from some sort of… spaceship.” His voice trailed off as he pictured the oval shaped craft that had hovered high above them. Just the memory of it caused Jasper to reexperience the raw terror he had felt at that moment. He broke into another cold sweat and shuddered.

Milo and Molly, gingerly scooting on their butts, moved closer to Jasper and George.

“Holy mackerel,” Milo gasped. “How fast is this thing going?”

“Faster than a MagLav,” Jasper said, rubbing his clammy hands on his jeans.

“A what?” Molly looked at Jasper.

“A MagLav. Fastest train in the world. It’s in Japan, I think. Or maybe, China. I can’t remember. I just remember reading about it once and wondering what it would feel like to sit inside something traveling over 350 miles an hour.” He looked around the group. “I know… be careful what you wish for.”

“Be very careful,” Molly said. Then, smiling ruefully, she added, “I’d say you need to get out more, Jasper, but after the last twenty-four hours I’m beginning to think you might have been right to stay inside and read all the time.”

Jasper couldn’t have agreed with her more.

“I remember hearing about those trains,” George said, staring toward one of the bubbled windows. “I think they run using super conducting magnets or something.” He turned back to the others. “Man, looking out those windows makes me want to puke.” He put his head between his knees for a minute before asking, “You think that’s what this is?”

“Doubtful,” Jasper said. "This doesn’t look anything like the ones I read about and saw on YouTube. Trust me, nobody was puking on the MagLav when they looked out the window.”

“So, what is this?” Milo asked. “And how did we get on it?” His breathing started to hitch, and Jasper noticed all the color draining from his face.

Molly’s eyebrows furrowed as she started to say something. But then she stopped and just sat there, drumming her fingers on the floor.

“What?” Jasper said. “What?”

“Nothing… it’s just—” She stopped again. Sighing, she said, "Okay, so, remember how before the spaceship appeared, or whatever that thing was, we saw a blue orb that seemed to shoot out from what looked like a world beyond ours? You guys remember that, right?”

They all nodded as Milo said, “I do remember that. Now. I mean, I didn’t five minutes ago, but now I do. It was as if the sky parted to reveal a glimpse of it—of that other wor—” As he left his thought unfinished, Milo’s face turned even more ashen than it had already been.

Jasper felt his stomach lurch as he picked up where Milo left off. “And then, just as quickly, the orb disappeared and the opening in the sky closed.” He stared at Molly. “Please don’t say what I think you’re thinking.”

“Sorry, but I have to.” Her eyebrows raised high. “I mean, we can't pretend this isn't a possibility.”

George, his voice barely a whisper, said, “You’re thinking we’ve somehow been transported into that world.”

Molly nodded. “It’s the only thing that explains this.” She swept her hand to indicate their surroundings. “I mean, I know it doesn’t make any sense, but think about everything that’s happened to us in the last day. None of that made any sense. Not seeing those dead and dehydrated cows without organs, not hearing those unidentifiable screams that sure as heck sounded like they might be Skinwalkers; not us being completely paralyzed and then unparalyzed without explanation. And, for sure not seeing a spaceship that moved faster than the speed of light without making so much as one single sound. I mean, none of those things logically could have happened, right?” She looked around, staring intensely at each of the others. "Right?"

“Right,” George said, his face so pale he almost looked like one of those mimes Jasper once saw on a TikTok video. “None of those things made sense, but they happened.” He sat up straighter, turning his neck from side to side until everyone heard it crack. “So… just for the sake of discussion here; say it’s true. Say we somehow got transported onto a train in some alternate universe.” He looked at Molly. “Where exactly do you think it might be taking us?”

“How should I know?” she snapped. “You’re the oldest. Where do you think it’s taking us?”

Jasper looked at Molly in surprise. He’d known the twins since they were all three years old, and he couldn’t remember ever hearing her sound so peevish. Then again, they’d never been in a situation like this. Peevish would be an understatement for how he might sound if he had the wherewithal to say something. Which he didn’t. He felt too shocked and too terrified to even open his mouth at this point. Because all he could think about was the fact that where this runaway train might be taking them was a lot less horrifying than the thought of why it was taking them there, and what would happen once they arrived.

As if reading Jasper’s mind, Milo said, “Where it’s taking us is one thing. Why it’s taking us there is another.” He looked around the group. “And to be honest, that question scares the bejeemmies out of me.” His eyebrows knit together as he turned to look at Jasper. “You’re the one who spent all summer researching the paranormal activity at Skinwalker. Did you ever read about anything like this?”

Jasper shook his head. “No. Never. I only read about the stuff we’ve already talked about or experienced, like the mutilated animals, the blue orbs, and the spaceship sighting.” He took a deep breath in a futile attempt to still his ever-increasing panic. “And, you know, stuff like the Ranch manager sustaining a brain injury after trying to dig on the property.”

Instinctively, they all touched their own heads, remembering the intensity of the headache they felt when they first opened their eyes.

“Okay,” George said, his voice quiet but steady. “We can’t afford to panic. We need to be calm so we can think through how to deal with this.” He looked at each of the others. “Nothing says—if it’s even true that we really are on some sort of alien super transport system—that whoever, or whatever brought us here has ill intent. I mean, think about it. We all felt like we were pushed before we fell some two hundred feet into that cave, and yet not one of us sustained any broken bones, or injury of any kind, right?” He raised his eyebrows. “Right? So, if this thing—whoever it is, or whatever it is—wanted to harm us; it could have done it then. But it didn’t.”

Nobody said anything for a minute, each of them digesting what George had just proposed.

“Good point,” Molly said, sounding like her usual pragmatic self. “Really; good point. Thanks.” She smiled at George, although it was a smile that did nothing to erase the worry clouding her eyes.

“So, now what? What do we do now?” Milo's voice sounded an octave higher than usual as he clenched and unclenched his hands in an obvious and unsuccessful attempt to calm himself.

“We wait,” George stated. “We sit here... and we wait.”

Unspoken, of course, were the words: Wait for what?