Chapter 58: Progress

The third barricade appears just after we're rolling again the next morning. I was right about Chime's choices. Last night, the moment we came aboard, myself and the small group I waited for the last to return, the train boss was eager to get moving.

"No way I'm leaving us exposed to this place." She tried to hide her shudder in a shrug but I saw the gooseflesh rise on her arms and knew she was as creeped out by this city as the rest of us. "Who knows what could come out of the dark once the sun is down."

Ande fired up the train, not arguing for a moment. None of us did. I stood there at the rail of the coal car as the light faded slowly in the west, the rest of the kids lining it too, looking out over the silent city, haunted now only by the whisper of the wind and the lonely souls of the dead.

The sun was down by the time we pulled up again, a lantern held out the engine window our only light. But Chime refused to stop until we had a good few miles between us and Albuquerque.