The Long Iron Train

The Long Iron Train

Waking up on a train is not usually this bad, but for me it’s bad. First off, I don’t even remember being on the train. My head hurts, last thing I remember is seeing a member of the Cobra gang and then an explosion that knocked me off my feet. I see blood on the wall, and I feel the dried blood on my head. Okay sheriff think, three questions, 1: Where am I? 2: Why am I on a train traveling at 400 mph? 3: What in Odin’s name is going on here?

Stumbling through the train to the passenger car I tried to remember but got interrupted, “IT’S THE SHERIFF FIRE!!!!!!!” Thank you for muscle memory and decades of training, I dropped and rolled behind a corner as a shower of bullets missed me and kept me pinned. As I got in position to fire back, I started to remember how I got here.

3 days earlier I entered my office with a new prisoner, a cattle thief, nine hundred and sixty-eight years later since riding horses and they still steal cattle. Same crime, just different times. After booking him, the chief called me into his office.

“What’s up chief,” As I sat down. “Just brought in another crook.”

“Yeah, I saw,” The chief said as he poured two glasses of bourbon. “Are you always this rough with them?” He asked as he handed me a drink. I took a swig before answering, “Not quite sure what you mean chief.” He shook his head as he sat down at his desk. “Miss Cleric just called, and she sent me some photos as well.”

Miss Cleric???? What (spinning around and firing) in the world does Miss Cleric (nailed 2 thugs and moved forward while the third was reloading) have to do with me being here and possibly this mess? (Turns corner and shoots third through the head) man, I hate head injuries that make you loose memories.

Moving to the front I find passengers in disarray, train bell boys trying to calm people down, (bumps into a finely dressed female) and…………...was that an assassin pistol? “SHERIFF!!!!” A bellboy ran up to me. “Sheriff what do we do there is chaos, and a gang is trying to take control of the train and,” I grabbed his shoulder. “Son,” I said as he winced in pain from my iron grip. “I don’t remember anything after the explosion that knocked me off my feet. See this blood? I must take care of it before I do anything else okay?” The busboy nodded yes, I let him go and pulled my little med kit from my coat.

As I put meds on my head the pain triggers another memory “Oh she did, well glad I could be of service with the cattle thieves.” The chief sighed, “she wasn’t happy.” He pulled up the photos. “You left a blood bath both in dead bodies and cattle. Why in the world would you put a grenade in a cow’s ass?”

I shook my head, why in the world did I do that? Looking up I saw people finally calming down and looking at me for help. I sighed, checked my ammo, and finally stood up. “Alright, I need to get to the cargo car to retrieve my bag.” Looking at the bellboys, 5 of them were here. “Which one of you knows where my bag is?” one bellboy lifted his hand, “I do, I loaded the cargo car.” I got a little hopeful, “great kid you’re coming with me, (locking in my guns) let’s go.”

It took some doing, had to shoot and fight a few guys. In the cargo car, I ran out of ammo for my 2 pistols, “Ha,” one guy laughed, “what good is a sheriff without his guns.” I holstered my guns and moved forward as I flexed my muscles, “Let’s find out.” I grabbed the gun from one and nailed him in the head which sent him to the ground. Then turned and elbowed another while kicking one, turned and punch plus lifted another, and forced him into and through a wooden crate. The last guy I gut punch then grabbing his head I twisted, snapping his neck. On the last guy, a small chip drive dropped out of my pocket, “Oh there’s the rest of my ammo.”

Finding my bag, we went back to the other car with everyone, another gang guy was in my way with his back to us trying to scare everyone in the car. As I was heading to him my head remembered again

“Miss Cleric,” my chief said, “said you shot 3 of her cows and shoved a grenade up a bull’s ass and pushed him towards the thieves which killed 4 of them and you shot the others without mercy, I’m surprised you left one alive.” I lit a cigar, “I needed him alive to tell me about who he was working for.” The chief shook his head, “Look, the mayor is coming tomorrow.”

I grabbed the guy’s head from behind and smashed him into the wall on the left, as he spun around to get his footing I kicked him through the window, driving at 400 MPH he was ripped apart. To myself, “The mayor?????” as a security door slammed shut due to the G-force from the open window. “What was the mayor doing there?” stepping forward into the car I told the people. “Sorry I needed to open a window; it was getting drafty in here.”

I grabbed the bag from the bell boy, he looked like he was about to buckle under the weight. After I opened it, he looked disappointed, “What is it kid?” He looked at me, “Sorry sir I thought there would be guns because of the weight and not those microchips.” I chuckled, “have you ever heard of micro bots?” he shook his head, “These chips are guns that are shrunk down for compactness.” I tossed him a chip and as he caught it, it transformed into a 3-barreled rocket launcher. “Oops, wrong chip.” I reached out and clicked it back down to size. “Here it is,” pulling out two chips as I kept talking, “what is making this thing heavy is my armor.” As I set a shoulder piece of military-grade bulletproof armor down.

Just then I heard noise from the left and right of me, I pulled the first chip which turned into an 8-barreled pump action shotgun. As I loaded it, I saw 4 guys, 2 on my right and 2 on my left, rush me. Right as I finished loading the gun, I stood up, spun to face between them and pushed a button that made the shotgun barrels split right to left. I fired and both guys on both sides got hit while the barrels come back together in a smoky angel wing look.

After once again calming the people down, I put my armor on then I loaded both my pistols, my shotgun, and my AR-hybrid. Once that was done, I pulled the busboy over and asked what was all in the main cargo. “These guys are the Cobra gang; they wouldn’t attack a train for no reason.” The bus boy looked behind me, I turned and noticed a royal guard seal on one of the passengers, I walked towards him with a “talk or you’re dead” look on my face. He started to pull a gun out but before he could I cleared the distance and had my pistol at his heart in a flash. “Talk?” I told him. He sighed, “Alright, the president started a new clean energy program a while back, we found a way to make it happen but to do so we use a huge power source, black dwarf crystal.” I stepped back in shock, “Black dwarf crystal?!?!?!” I shook my head, “that is the most powerful but also unstable crystal out there. Also, most valued on the black market.” The guard got up taking his coat off so everyone could see his guard uniform. “Which is why it’s in a secured container in the cargo car and why we’re here.”

I laughed, “You’re here?” I pointed at the fallen guards and damage to the train, “Yeah, we all feel safer now. If you haven’t noticed I’ve been busy dealing with your mess.” I shook my head before moving forward to the cargo hold knowing that’s where the gang would be.

On my way I notice the woman from earlier, she pulled her dress aside, and strapped to her leg was an assassin’s revolver. I didn’t know who she was after what had just happened I had enough to deal with I didn’t need a rogue assassin and some random dead body. “Hey,” I said as I walked forward. She turned, tried to hide her gun but then just pulled it out and fired. I ducked but before I could shoot, I heard a step behind me and a shot rang over my head hitting her gun away. “My child, why are you doing this?” I looked up to see the 7’6” priest with an over-under double-barreled revolver. “Why must you do this?” “I must father,” she replied. “It is my job.” She reached down showing a second revolver, the priest shook his head. “Please don’t my child,” I got my gun ready. “Or we will shoot you.” She got a twinkle in her eye, “Then you’ll have to shoot me.” She pulled but me and the priest beat her, he shot high I shot low. She was alive but had a shot through the leg and her shoulder.

After securing her and thanking the priest for protecting his flock, I continued to the cargo hold. As I got closer there were more Cobras, they weren’t much trouble. I got to the last cargo hold to see 4 dead guards and the door open with the cobras just entering, “HEY!” I yelled. They turned and opened fire, missing me by a mile but then again what would you expect from a street gang? I charged and decked one, used his body as a shield, and then shot/fought the last 2. They locked the door from the inside, no problem, reloaded my 8-barreled shotgun with explosive rounds, step back, aim correctly, and “BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!” the explosion rattled my brain to remember lastly why I was here.

“Look,” the chief said as he handed me a drink. “The mayor is coming here to evaluate the department.” I rolled my eyes as I tried not to spit the bourbon out, damn good bourbon should not be wasted. “The mayor,” I shook my head. “You know I don’t get along with him, right?” the chief nodded, “Ever since you shot his leg off he hasn’t really been friendly to you.” I stood up, “Hey I didn’t shoot his leg off on purpose I had to save his life during that shootout.” The chief backed up, “Hey I know, I know I spoke up for you remember?” I sat back down. The chief sighed, “Look I just need you to leave for a bit. Go home, take a trip, get a girl and disappear with her for a bit I don’t know I just need you not here.” I took another drink, “Okay, I do have a few vacation days saved up, so I’ll go I hear the iron train is nice,” I got up to leave, “But I do not want to be bothered, if I am not supposed to be here than I am off duty.” The chief smiled and chuckled, “Fine by me, have a good trip.”

CRACK!!!!! Broke a guy’s neck, so that’s why I’m here. Okay, the mayor is going to get it, I moved further into the cargo train just in time to see the gang open the crate with the Black Dwarf Crystal. I cocked the shotgun, 8-barrels filled with pure 12gage solid tungsten bullets was ready. “FREEZE!” I ordered, maybe I should have thought that through more, I scared the gang so bad one guy pulled his over-under Winchester and fired in fear. The shot was aimed at me but would have gone through the crystal, I braced for the explosion but it never came. Instead, the bullets hit the crystal and bounced back at the guy, taking his head off.

The gang looked at their dead member, at the crystal, and then at me. It was clear what was to come next, I strapped my shotgun to my back, reached into my coat, took out some steel knuckles with 300 volts taser tips each built into them, and moved forward putting them on. The gang dropped their weapons and took out brass knuckles, knives, chains, and clubs as they come toward me. I squared my shoulders, “Let’s do this!” I said a little too happy. Guy to the left, duck, sucker punch, spin back punch, and down. One guy to the left, block arm punch his inner arm, bitch backhand K.O. him out. 2 guys in front, kick/pin one to the wall while uppercut the other, punch the pinned one in the leg breaking it, and left hook the other in the face K.O.ing him. So another kid shot from behind me and the shot bounced off the crystal and almost hit my head. I grabbed an electric axe and through it hitting him square in the head. Right as he fell, the royal guard showed up, after looking over the carnage and blood they looked at me. “Your reputation doesn’t really do you justice.” The lead guy said. “We got it from here.” I turned with my shotgun ready, “Oh no” as I lowered the barrels towards him, “You clean up your mess here. I’m going towards the front to make sure we’re safe and to get a message out.” I cocked my gun and headed towards the front.

Ran into 4 more guys before I got to the front, someone is going to have a field day cleaning that up. Once I got to the main car, I noticed the front door was cut, “Okay so 2 things, there’s company in there and it’s a good thing these trains are driven by robots, so I don’t have to worry about hostages.” I went in, got to the corner, and heard them on the other side. I pulled a flash grenade from my belt, pulled the pin, and rolled it in. I heard the yell, and the scrabble before the bang. I pulled my revolvers out, switched to the stun rounds, and shot the five in there. I walked to the front and found a radio-controlled bomb hooked up to the robot helm. I got one of the punks to tell me how to disarm it, I had to shoot two of his partners to make him talk. Anyway, secured them and made my way back to the cargo car where the royal guards and a few bellboys were busy cleaning up. I told the guard we were okay and handed him the bomb, he almost dropped it thinking it was armed. I looked around, something just wasn’t adding up, also one small thing to do first. “This was definitely a mess,” I said to the guard. “Yes, it was,” he replied. “It’s definitely a good thing you were here.” I chuckled, “Yeah good thing so tell me were you going to split the money after they sold the crystal, or is there a nice sum in your bank account now?” His face reddened and his men looked at him. “I think your head injury is making you think things.” He started to say but then shut up after seeing the recorder and hearing the confession from one of the gang guys in the front. He started to run but I grabbed his back collar and slammed his head into the wall. I secured him and then I called another guard over and called a bell boy over.

“Okay 2 things,” I said pointing towards the guard. “How did you guys get that crate in here cause I noticed the main cargo door is too small.” The guard pointed up at the ceiling, I looked and noticed for the first time that the roof was a bigger door. I turned towards the bellboy, “where is the button to open that door?” He pointed over to the side where the panel was torn off the wall and the button exposed. I thought for a minute, they weren’t going to stop the train, so they were probably going to open the roof and have a hover jet pick up the crate. Which means there could be backup on the way. I pointed at the guard and then the bellboy, “You get ready to open that door, you come with me and roll out this blanket on top of the crate.” They both nodded and went their ways. I went to my bag and grabbed another chip and went back to the cargo car.

A hover jet with the Cobra gang symbol on it came into view. The cargo door opened but instead of a ready crate and team members waiting they found me with a tri-shot rocket launcher ready to fire. One shot, 3 rockets, and a huge explosion happened. I got down, and stretched, “Okay I need a drink.”

The chief, the mayor, and the police were waiting at the train station, soon they heard it rolling around the bend. It pulled into the station. When it stopped the door opened as the sheriff stepped out with the royal guards, the rest of the gang with the corrupted guard, and the assassin. I gave the report to the chief, handed the prisoners, and nodded to the mayor, and headed to the saloon. A few days later I walked into the chief’s office, “Well for going on a vacation you apparently just always find trouble, or does trouble just follow you around?” He handed me a drink. I shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess I’m just in the right place at the wrong time.” We both laughed and he handed me a small package, “By the way, this arrived for you. No name but addressed directly to you.” I opened it showing a card with the Cobra gang symbol on it with a message. “Till next time, sheriff.”

The end.