Greencoast. A small town sat perched at the edge of a rocky outcrop, centimetres from falling into the iron grey sea hundreds of feet below it. Green fields swept outwards from the town's stone walls giving it its name and a truly breath-taking appearance. According to Sheira the place was a thriving elemental port where hundreds of ships docked every day, with goods from all over Europe being exchanged in this small town. It held the title of England's primary elemental port where the town constantly bustled with life, voices rang out overhead desperately pedalling their wares to tourists, townsfolk and sailors alike, and the scent of smoke, fish and salt hung in the air like a thick fog that you could taste. It was a perfect example of the success of the elemental world.

It was also completely dead.

Sheira had been telling me about this wonderful town the entire walk here and to be completely honest, I was looking forward to it. I missed the bustle of a busy city, so this was going to be a nice substitute (Emphasis on the word "Was"). However, the moment we set foot in the cobbled streets even a blind man could tell that something wasn't right.

"Where is everyone?" was the first thing Sheira said as all three of us took in the dilapidated buildings, broken and empty stalls and the boarded shut windows. A tumbleweed could have rolled by and no one would have thought it odd, as this place was like it had been dropped into an old Spaghetti Western. This place was supposed to have a population of a few thousand and yet I couldn't have seen more than fifty people tops lurking around the barren market square. And as for the docks? Not even a dingy was moored never mind a full-sized tanker that were the usual visitors.

Sheira and Shadow looked completely baffled as we looped the streets trying to find anyone that could give us a hand but those that we could see were either unable to help or ran in the other direction as fast as they could. Even now as we sat on the dry fountain that marked the centre of town it was impossible to get the image of a ghostly figures walking the empty streets and filling this place with life.

"They've all done a runner." Shadow walked up to join the two of us, three Styrofoam cups of coffee in his hands that a street vendor had been all too happy to sell him her wares. He sat down next to Sheira, took a sip of his drink and grimaced slightly. "The ships stopped arriving in March and everything's shrivelled up since then. Most left in May and the rest are all preparing to pack up and abandon this place."

"Why though? What stopped the ships from coming?" Sheira asked.

"Molly got them scared. The captains are afraid that some of her spy's or weapons could be taken onboard and her influence would spread across the rest of Europe."

"That's stupid though," I said plainly, "all they have to do is get on the ferry to France and they're home free."

"They don't want to risk it."

"So, the UK is under quarantine?" Sheira said miserably.

"Looks like it. But it also means that weren't not going to find much here, well no help anyways, we'll stock up as best we can. There's another town further inland, Farscar, that's our best bet now."

"Well bugger," I muttered bitterly. Yet another detour, perfect.

"That's the spirit," said Shadow in a voice that could have been cheerful or grumpy. "Lets all meet back here in an hour with supplies and then we get the hell out of dodge. Agreed?"

Sheira and I both nodded which resulted in all three of us splitting off into the different parts of town looking for a small list that Sheira had compiled with Shadow's tidy handwriting underneath saying, "If it's useful, take it." After a brief discussion it was decided that Shadow was going to dig up as many elemental resources as possible, Sheira was to go scrounging for food and I was to look for anything that could prove helpful, A.K.A anything you would find on a boy scout equipment list.

That was the reason why I was winding through backstreets towards the empty docks, my logic being that if you were going to have a hardware store then it was going to be pretty close to the giant iron ships that used to call this place a temporary home. I broke free of the streets and stepped out onto the docks, the salty smell of sea air and oil lingered on the breeze and the constant sound of waves crashing against the stone walls of the docks were like a dull heartbeat. Iron cranes hung like thin metal trees, rusted and warped, looming over the single ship that was lodged permanently in place. The ship was a tanker, the steel boxes that were its cargo were still on board, but the crew was nowhere to be seen. The peeling paint revealed that it was one of Greencoast's own vessels, left beached when no one wanted to take her cargo and now was just left to rust. I ran my hand against the harsh red surface, this was what Molly did, she inspired fear, enough to scare any trade from these towns that relied so heavily on those from beyond the sea.

I pulled myself away and set off down the beaten walkway towards a small line of battered storefronts. The only one that was open was a near empty shop that sold fishing equipment, but I figured that it had something that could prove useful. I offered a friendly smile to the owner and picked up a few lines of wire, a few old hooks, iodine drops and a couple of metres of plastic that could probably function as a tent if push came to shove. I'd have to ask Crash if he'd be okay with acting as a lean too if that was the case. In total my order didn't even reach double digits, that's how far the prices had been cut in an attempt to get rid of everything. They're not going to be here much longer I thought as I walked away, my backpack significantly heavier than before.

I made my way back up into town to try and find some rope. I had been a little confused by that one but since both Shadow and Sheira had gone into the troubled of underlining and writing the words "Come back without this and you're a dead man," next to it. I was definitely going to heed that warning, but I had to find the thing first, which was turning out to be easier said than done. I had only seen five shops that weren't boarded up and they didn't have what I needed. Various messages to Molly were also painted onto the boards, "Death to the beast!" and "Down with the Army!" were the most common phrases that weren't laced with various profanities.

I turned down a backstreet and spotted another shop sign, hanging loosely off its hinges. I hurried over too it and peered into the dusty window. The lights were out, and the room was swirling with dust, so it was almost impossible to see anything. I sighed irritably and turned when something caught my eye. Hanging off one of the walls, coated in dust was a coil of rope. Yes! Was my first thought, Ouch! was my second when the door didn't open, and I crunched my nose on the frame. For once I thanked my lucky stars that I was alone when that happened, there are some things a man needs to do on his own and public humiliation is one of them.

I examined the door after making sure that I hadn't given myself a nose bleed. It wasn't locked, just warped shut. Right...I shoved the door with my shoulder which proceed to give way a little. I did another run up with a little more force this time which resulted in the door giving way with me still attached to it. I yelled in surprise as the ground slammed into me removing any dignity that I previously had.

"Well done Nick, you've just reached court jester levels of stupidity." I picked myself up and wiped the dust and dirt off of my front, choking on the thick layer of dust that hung stagnantly in the air, "Sorry if I broke anything, I'll pay for it," I said to the general direction of the counter.

No one responded. I picked up the length of rope which seemed to be in pretty good condition (Says the guy who has never even been camping) and slung it over my shoulder. I wandered back over to the counter and peered behind it, nothing. Hmm...

"Hello? Is anybody home?"

Still no response.

"I'm here to buy something, not steal anything!" Probably not the best thing to say, but still the air was silent.

There was a door behind the counter that lead off into another room that I probably wasn't allowed into, but I could still look. Probably. It opened much easier that the last one but was accompanied by the horror movie squeal of hinges that was really helping my confidence. I poked my head in after waiting a few seconds for a chainsaw wielding psychopath to come sprinting out of the shadows at me. Satisfied that leather face was not in the building I stepped fully into the room.

It looked like a stockroom with a set of stairs pushed to one side that probably lead up into the owners home which I was definitely not about to trespass into. I walked around the stockroom which was just stacks of cardboard boxes calling out to whoever owned the building, but no one responded. This was getting creepy, so I was just about to walk out when a heard a small noise that sent me twisting on my heel, flames licking at my fingers.

It sounded like a child snuffling with a slight cold, a completely involuntary noise that seemed to be coming from one of the boxes. I slowly approached, one hand still holding the dancing flames while the other reached out cautiously to take the lid off one on the boxes. Then someone hit me in the neck.

I dropped to the floor in pain, rolling out of the way just in time for the spear to miss me by an inch. The guy holding it looked like a gruff drill sergeant that you'd see in Full Metal Jacket with a scraggly blonde beard and eyes that were blazing with rage. He lunged the spear towards my chest, which I barley had time to dodge out of the way of which was then followed by a flurry of stabs and swipes all of which came terrifying close to puncturing my flesh.

I was terrified of fighting back. I couldn't draw Incaendium, the guy wasn't leaving any opening for me and the likelihood that he had already noticed I was carrying a weapon was high. As for basic fire powers? I was in a room where everything was highly flammable and there could still be someone hiding in here. In other words, that aint happening. Best current option was running very fast towards the open door and praying that he didn't stab me in the back on the way out.

I made a lunge for the door, but a spear came out of nowhere and swept under my legs. I fell flat on my back, and a flash of grey streaked forwards. Pure instinct caused my hands to fly upwards, grabbing the wooden hilt of the spear, the gleaming curved blade an inch from my eye. Going blind was not something I had in mind today so pushing back against the abnormal strength of the guy, who was still forcing the spear towards me, took up almost all of my effort, my arms trembling against the wooden pole I was gripping onto–

Wood.

I'm an idiot.

Flames danced on my palms and raced up the spear towards its masters hands who let go just in the nick of time to avoid losing his fingers. I leapt to my feet, kicking the spear head away and held up my hand in a peace gesture. The guy failed to notice this and had now appeared with another weapon, this one was made out of shiny metal and gently...singing? He pointed the spear towards me, the blade opened and then started screaming. The sound was horrific. A bombardment of every frequency that had ever existed all at once which was sending my brain into a complete overdrive as my nerves screamed to get away. All I could manage was drop to the floor, my hand s covering my ears as I tried in vain to block out the noise.

He charged at me, the spear driving down at my curled-up form, aiming to kill. My hands snapped up under their own volition, twisting the grip sideways to create a flat bar that landed over my chest. The wind was stuck from my lungs as more flames raced from my hands, sending ripples of energy as it connected with this guy's powers of sound. His power turned out to be greater than my own as a blast that cracked the air around it and sent me flying into a stack of cardboard. White spots danced in front of my eyes as I stared up groggily, the man running towards me, spear forwards like a battering ram. I desperately covered my face and chest with my arms, praying that whatever higher power that had been preventing my death this past week was willing to save my stupid ass again.

"Daddy no!"

Okay, that's not what I had in mind. Confused I looked up to see a little girl, no older than five or so with dark brown hair woven into a pair of unravelling pigtails who was standing in front of the guy, who seemed to be her father, with her arms flung out to stop him from running me through.

"Get out of the way Rebecca, this guy's a trespasser," he spat.

The brave little thing stood her ground and shook her head, "I heard him calling out in the shop, he said he wanted to buy something."

"Yep. No malicious intent here sir," I gabbled frantically.

"Quiet you!"

I kept my mouth firmly buttoned shut, hands waving in the air in complete surrender.

Little Rebecca lowered her arms to her sides. "He's not dangerous daddy. He was only fighting back because you attacked him first."

His spear inched a little closer to me. "How do I know you're not with the Army?"

I was about to yell something along the lines of 'how dare you', but I kept my mouth shut. It wasn't unreasonable to think that the Army had hit this place already, what with the very much anti-Molly slogans that littered the walls. The guy had his reasons for being suspicious and for that I couldn't blame him.

"I'm not with the Army because no one hates that monster more than me. She's taken family from me, made my friends lives miserable and now has taken three of the most precious things in the world to me. So, trust me when I say I hate her, because there's no one on this earth that wants her dead more than the guy you're looking at."

I kept eye contact the entire time, the man's own gaze not breaking with my own. He stood back and nodded, flicking his spear onto his back. "Okay. I believe you but trust me when I say this. Try anything funny and you'll be dead before you can say help. Got it?"

"Yessir!"

"And for the record. Next time you decide to enter a building don't sound like you're trying to break down the door."

I pushed off the chunks of carboard that were still clinging to my clothes, "in my defence the door was warped shut. But thanks for not killing me."

Rebecca's dad hmphed and started rearranging the boxes that had been knocked down during our struggle. I looked down to see Rebecca gazing curiously up at me, her bright brown eyes filled with wonder. "What's your name mister?"

"I'm Nick, nice to meet you," I shook her hand gently.

She giggled happily, "I'm Rebecca, and this is daddy."

"Maverick," her dad yelled from behind a pile of cardboard.

"How old are you Nick?"

"I'm sixteen."

"Ooh, I'm five."

"I have a little sister about your age," I smiled sadly.

Rebecca noticed my change in mood and quickly changed the subject (Its amazing how perceptive kids actually are). "What are you doing up here?"

"That's what I was about to ask." Maverick walked over to us and placed a protective hand on his daughters shoulder. "You're definitely not from round here, especially with that accent."

I shook my head, "Londoner."

"You're a long way from home."

"I still need to go further." I was really trying to avoid telling these people what ours plans were. They didn't need to know and if someone from the Army came through here it would be best if they knew as little as humanly possible.

"You still haven't answered my question though," Maverick said intently, "what are you doing up here?"

Here's the question, what do I say to them? Do I lie to them, tell them the truth or go fifty-fifty and only reveal a handful of details. The latter sounded more appealing at this current moment in time. "My friends and I need a supply stock up and one of us thought that we might be able to get help up here. Obviously that's before we realised that this town was coming up a ghost town."

Maverick smirked at the reference. "Yeah, you're not going to find much here. Fear of the Army and Molly has driven most of the residents away. Now were nothing but easy picking for raiders and thieves. I've been robbed twice this last month, so I wasn't taking any chances when I heard you slamming into my door."

"The sound gun, spear, thingy was overkill."

"It really wasn't. Anyway, its rich coming from you, that's quite a weapon you've got hanging from your hip," he gestured towards Incaendium. "But who am I to judge? Whatever, you said you wanted something, lets get it over with before your friends notice you're missing."

I spent the next few minutes darting around the empty shop, picking up anything and everything that would help us all on our journey north. Mallets, tent pegs, steel water canteens, torches, a swiss army knife and various other bits and bobs. I saw a handful of boxes of matches, and almost passed them over before reaching out and snatching a few packs from the shelf. I may be a walking firelighter but if I wasn't in the room then those two were going to go cold so in it went.

I returned back to the front desk with a small armful of gear which Maverick began to ring through. Rebecca sat on the edge of the desk swinging her socked legs, humming a happy little tune to herself, like she didn't have a care in the world. She probably didn't all things considered, kids don't always notice the bigger picture, only the finer details of the puzzle. She didn't know what was going on with the rest of the world, and that was a good thing. She needed to stay innocent for as long as possible.

Rebecca's brown eyes suddenly stared into my own, making me jump a good few feet backwards but proved to be enormously funny on her end. "Where are you going Nick?" She said through a fit of giggles.

"Err..." Keep it simple, don't reveal too much. "Err...north. Its going to be a long walk though, that's why we need the supplies."

"Why don't you just take the Train?"

My head snapped round to look at Rebecca in surprise. It was the way she had said train. It sounded more like train with a capital T. My curiosity was going through the roof especially when I saw that Maverick was trying to force Rebecca into the backroom.

"That's enough," he was saying, "he doesn't need to hear about that."

"But he needs to go north," Rebecca complained.

"And you need to go to your room. Upstairs now and I don't want to hear that infernal word ever again!"

"Wait!" I had go learn more about this, any lead was worth investigating, no matter how odd. "What's this about a train?"

"It's nothing," Maverick firmly insisted. Rebecca was still struggling to get past him. Little kids can't keep secrets and Rebecca looked like she was about to burst with the words that were trapped inside her head.

"I need to get north, I need to know if this would help."

"It would do you best to forget about it."

"Not happening."

"It's called the Diamond Express!" yelled Rebecca. She had finally squeezed past her dad and leapt up onto the table, so she and I were just about at eye level.

Her eyes, they were sparkling with wonder, she looked excited and happy to finally be telling me about this amazing thing. Her father, on the other hand, did not. Maverick looked weary and beaten. His back was slumped from tiredness. This magical train didn't translate over to the adults, who clearly saw something very different, possibly something very bad. Something very, very bad.

He was silently pleading with me not to believe her, he was begging to deny what she was saying as a child's imagination. But here's the thing, I was halfway between the two of them. Being sixteen might mean to some people that they're officially legal, but to me it meant that I was one year closer to my driving license. It also meant that I could indulge in a child's fantasy while having the viewpoint of an adult.

I flashed Maverick a look that I hoped came across as 'Trust me on this one' and turned back to Rebecca. "So...what's this about a train?"

"Not a train, The Train!"

"Okay then, what does it do?"

"It helps elementals get all over the country and Molly can't catch you. It means you can escape to safe places without being found. Everyone gets on board because it can take you away from the bad people. You don't have to be scared in your house anymore."

"What she's not telling you is that everyone that catches that wretched "Safe Escape" never comes back, no letters, no texts, no calls. They just stop existing the moment they climb on board."

"But they do get away..." Rebecca mumbled, her unravelling plaits obscuring her face from view.

Maverick sighed and walked over to give his daughter a hug. "That's the thing sweetie, no one knows where they go. And as for you," his attention was now directed back at me, "you better forget about that train. You hear me?"

"Perfectly...but how do you know that no one comes back?"

Mavericks bent shoulders slumped a little further down. "You saw what it's like outside didn't ya? This town, this place was a thriving heart of industry, hundreds of ships a day and while we might not be as well off as some others we had a good life down here, especially for people like me who have no skills and kids to feed. Then the Army rose up and suddenly there's no ships, no income, people can't afford to keep a roof over their heads, so people are getting desperate."

"Then, completely out of the blue these flyers start being pushed through doors, posters start appearing and gossip begins to spread all mentioning this same thing. A train. A ticket to safety where Molly can't get you. Most of us are smelling a rat and we pull down all the posters, shred all the papers, but that little thought is in peoples heads, that seed of false hope."

"When was this?" I asked.

"Couple of months ago, middle of May. The first family packed up and left a few days later. After that it was a near constant stream of people leaving, the poorest first and then the wealthiest, some running back into town to find something, but they all left in the end. We all begged them to stay, to go to family and friends in other towns, but sometimes I swear it was like they couldn't hear us. They all just left."

"That's all good and all," I said when I felt that Maverick had finished, "but you still haven't answered my question."

Maverick's sigh was the longest and weariest I'd heard so far. "Because my brother was one of them," he muttered sadly. Rebecca looked down, suddenly very interested in loose strand of thread on her dress. "A couple of days ago my brother packed up and left, taking his wife and kids with him. He ran one of the taverns on the front, so the lack of customers had hit him really hard, it was a miracle he stayed open for this long as it is."

"So, he comes into my shop a few days ago and tells me that he's packing up and leaving, heading for that damned train. I beg him not to go, I damn near get on my knees and grovel at his feet. I tell him just to wait a few more days, Rebecca got ill so I wasn't travelling with her, a few more days that's what I told him, then I'd leave with him. I have old friends down in Whitecliff Bay, we could go stay with them, but he didn't listen to me. We end up having this row, but I can see that I'm not changing the stubborn little bugger's mind, but I do tell him to send me something, anything to let me know if he's okay, every night. That was three days ago, and I've got nothing. He's just dropped off the face of the earth, and his entire family went with him."

I had to agree with him. Something about this train felt off, something wasn't right. I mean elementals don't just vanish, even the one's taken by Molly turn up in the end. Then there were the posters that just appeared planting that idea. It was like a military tactic, cut off the resources coming in and everyone inside the walls either runs out into certain doom or starves to death within, trapped like rats between a rock and a hard place. This was too planned, too well executed, but elementals were still being carted off for god knows what and if the Train took us north, well then, it might be worth taking a look.

"Do you still have any of those flyers?" I asked.

"Oh god you're not considering going are you?" Maverick sounded completely appalled. "Did you not hear a word that I just said?"

"I heard every word," I protested. "I just want to look into this with a little more detail, my friends and I might be able to pick up on something that you've all missed."

Maverick shook his head. "You're insane, what makes you think that you're going to find anything and make it out alive?"

"Because were not desperate. We're not hungry, we're not broke, we're still thinking rationally, if we do go into this you can bet ever last penny you have that we're going to have our guards up, they're not going to take us easily–"

A slight tug at my jacket broke off my attention. Rebecca was looking up at me, a sad but slightly determined expression on her face. "Will you find my auntie and uncle? My cousins? All my friends?"

My heart broke in that moment. This was a little girl who had lost everything, but barely understood what was going on, just like my own Lilah and Maxie asking when Daddy was going to come home, wondering why Mummy was always crying and why they could hear their big brother weeping through the walls when he thought everyone had gone to bed. I gently ruffled her hair and gave her a reassuring smile.

Her dad sighed but pulled out a faded blue sheet of paper from one of the drawers anyway. "Are you sure about this? What are you going to do if you run into some trouble with the foot soldiers."

"I know what I'm doing, and besides one of my friends has a personal...vendetta with the Army."

"Vendetta?"

I shrugged, "let's just say you wouldn't want to be wearing the brand when he's in town."

And that's putting it mildly.

***

"Guys! Guys! I think I've found something!"

I had just about sprinted back into the square as the broken bell tower was striking the hour. I had to tell them about this train, about what was happening and if we could do anything about it. People needed our help and we might be the only one's that could do something. Whole families were going missing, and my gut was telling me that this wasn't as it seemed, this was a whole lot more complicated than a one-way ticket to nowhere. But it seemed that my little plan would have to wait as Shadow and Sheira were waiting for me, their bags looking a lot fuller than earlier, and they looked like they had news of their own.

"Nick! I have to tell you something!" Sheira yelled the moment I was in earshot which was about two hundred of metres away because that girl could yell when she wanted to. However, she might have been drowned out slightly by the fact that I yelled the exact same thing at the exact same time. She blushed in embarrassment, "No, no you go first."

"No, you."

"Yours sounds important."

"So, does yours."

"You go."

"No, you."

"Oh, for god's sake...One of you talk!" Shadow rolled his eyes in annoyance, "dear lord you two are like an old married couple. Nick, tell us what news you have or I'm throwing you over the cliff."

"Alright, alright, alright," I snapped. "Okay. So, after the town got closed off, which I believe was Molly's doing, everyone that lived in town is evacuating elsewhere. But a couple of months ago these flyers appeared advertising this 'Diamond Express' and a lot of people decided to take the risk and leave for this weird train, that can apparently take you to safety where Molly can't get you. But there's one little problem with the fact that anyone that gets on board–"

"Never comes back..." Sheira finished.

"You too?" It seemed that I wasn't the only one who had heard about this, it wasn't surprising all things considered, but the exact same thing? Okay, now something was definitely odd.

"Same here as well, only I didn't hear it being called the Diamond Express. The guy I talked to called it the 'Pyrite Line', that's what was on the actual engine," Shadow explained.

"He saw it?" I said in surprise. By the sounds of it you could change your mind before boarding.

Shadow nodded. "Yeah. I'd just finished picking everything up when I saw this poster, half ripped down advertising this 'gateway to safety' and 'new opportunities'"

"That's a lot of air quotes."

"Anyway, I asked about and this guy said that he tried to board but got turned away, said he changed his mind when he saw the ticket price. He said he couldn't afford it."

Ah ha! So that's why Maverick said that people would suddenly come running back into town only to leave almost as soon as they'd arrived.

"That's what the woman I was talking to said, but she was actually packing up to leave, said she'd been saving for months, looked more like she'd sold her entire shop just to pay for two people. But she knew about knew about the risk, her own daughter had left and hadn't come back but she was desperate."

"Stupid," muttered Shadow.

Sheira scowled angrily at Shadow and then rounded on him, the air of menace she was giving off could have been cut with a knife. "Listen you, they're desperate, they're hungry and they have nothing. I might not know much about you, but I've seen enough gold in that vault of yours to know that you've never gone starving a day in your life! You don't know what its like to barely even have the clothes on your back!"

Shadow suddenly leaned forwards so that Sheira was less than an inch from his own face. "You don't know anything about me," he spat.

Sheira stepped back in surprise. From what she'd told me about her family and what happened to her when she was younger, I could make a decent guess that she'd lived rough for a few years, gone starving, maybe even begged for money, but for once I had to side with Shadow. We didn't know what he had gone through, maybe that vault was recent, but even if I did agree with him on this, nothing made sense with him. The scale was too big, the dates were too strange, and Shadow was far too young to have eyes so old.

I stepped between the two to try and keep the peace, "okay guys, calm down. What you're both saying matches up with what this guy told me. His name's Maverick, and he has a five-year-old daughter called Rebecca. They gave me this, it's one of the ones handed out a few months ago." I held up the faded, slightly crumpled, blue sheet of paper towards Sheira who took it from me and examined it carefully.

"The Diamond Line Expressway. Taking all to safety without being seen. Hmph, doesn't provide much does it?"

"That's what Maverick said. He didn't trust it which is why he's still here but his brother up and left three days ago, should be on board now if the timing is right. But he said that those flyers planted enough of an idea that lead to a mass exodus of people. He thinks the army has something to do with it."

"Where did you meet this guy?" Sheira asked curiously.

"The hardware store. Well technically we met because he was trying to skewer me with his sound spear but as you can he didn't completely turn me into a kebab."

Sheira stayed silent. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes can we?"

"The emerging pattern does seem to suggest that."

"Ehem," Shadow coughed to gain our attention. "Okay so it seems that this train is taking you somewhere, and from the route on the back it does suggest that it does take you northwards. The question is what are we going to do about it?"

"What do you think we're going to do?" Sheira said like this was probably the most stupid thing we'd ever done. "We're not going to do anything, we're going to keep walking onto Farscar and then find a genuine piece of transportation over the Scottish border, and forget about this train, got it?"

"And I couldn't disagree with you more," Shadow interjected. Brace yourself lads this could turn ugly. "We have to investigate this, a direct path up to Scotland, I mean look here it passes almost directly by where we need to go."

"And what if the Army is behind it?"

"Information is incredibly useful. We just interrogate whoever's on board."

"Oh, come on," Sheira rolled her eyes in disbelief, "you don't care about that. All you want to do is slaughter as many people with the brand as possible."

"Maybe I do, I'm not saying I don't. All I'm suggesting is that we interrogate them and then we shut them up, simple."

"That's murder."

"And that fight in the clearing wasn't?"

She folded her arms, carefully picking at a none existent piece of lint on her sleeve. "Self-defence."

Shadow laughed cruelly, while Sheira glared menacingly at him. All I could manage was a sigh. They both had excellent points, decent reasoning as well. Sheira's plan was safer, a hell of a lot safer, but it was going to take longer and was a slightly unnecessary detour that meant that we might not be kidnapped, dumped in an ice bath and have both of our kidneys removed (So to speak). Shadow on the other hand had a more direct idea, a bit more brutal, but more direct and a lot quicker. But even then, it was a lot riskier, people were disappearing and wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to find out what had happened to them. Ending up on the wrong end of Molly's syringe was not how I wanted to go out. Whatever, so long as they didn't make me chose between them I could live with it–

"Nick!"

Bugger.

Wincing I turned on my heel to see my two travelling companions staring me down, arms folded, shooting each other medusa death stares from the corner of their eyes. "What can I do you for even though I know exactly what you're going to say."

"Choose," Sheira commanded.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," I whimpered.

"You're the tie breaker, we go with whatever you decide."

"Well you've bothy got pros and cons..."

Sheira turned her glare on me. "My idea has less things that can go wrong and you know it!"

"It also takes longer," Shadow said. "taking the train is more direct."

"Do you want us to die?"

"I'll be fine, you lot...well that's debatable."

"You pig!"

"Is that the best insult you can come up with?"

"Do you give a damn about us at all?!"

"Do you want me to answer that!"

"SHUT IT!" I yelled. Shadow and Sheira actually jumped in surprise, even I didn't know I could shout that loud. I would have to keep that I mind for when I beat the two apart when they try to kill each other later on. "I have told you time and time again, I am not playing referee when you two decide to have a strangling match!"

They both glared at each other but didn't go for the jugular which was always a good sign in my humble opinion. I sighed in frustration, "You two are going to be the death of me you know?"

Shadow actually nodded. Charming.

"As the designated referee," I began, "I'm taking up my position as Switzerland. Neutral Nick. But I do still have a way of solving this little problem without one of us being thrown into the North Sea. Do one of you have a coin?"

Clearly, realisation dawned on the two of them at the exact same moment. Sheira tossed me ten pence coin, which I then flipped and covered. "Call it," I said to Sheira.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"It's a fifty-fifty chance. If you're right we do what you want, if you're wrong we go with sergeant surly."

"I could break your neck with my little finger."

"And that's why I'm slowly sidestepping away from you. Sheira call it."

She stared at the coin, and pondered for a few seconds, her brain clearly going through the odds to the point she looked like that calculating woman meme. "Tails," she said finally.

I slowly lifted my palm so that the queens head shimmered in the sunlight. Shadow grinned triumphantly but was instantly shut up by Sheira's trademark death stare boring a hoe through his head.

"Well that's that!" I said cheerfully. "You said you know where you're going."

"Yep, follow me minions," and with that he strolled off to the main gates with Sheira skulking back next to me.

"If he gets both if us killed will you haunt his ass with me?"

"Agreed," I said happy in the knowledge that we may be walking into certain danger. Or the help we needed. Whichever came first, and with our rotten luck? Let's just say I wasn't expecting much.

***

Another little filler chapter is finally up! I promise that the action will kick up soon in the next few chapter. But here's a question in the mean time, do you think they should catch the train? Leave a comment with your thoughts and any questions you may have and give it a vote if you enjoyed this chapter. See you next time!