Chapter 18: Poisoned, Part 2

"Very impressive. Ready to go back?" He held his hand out to her.

Alex nodded and accepted his hand. That minty, tingling, electric feeling crawled up his arm. She had that effect on him every time she touched him.

Weylin was waiting on the other side of the door. He held Alex's crowbar in one hand. "Did you get them all?" he asked, looking around behind them.

"They won't be bothering us anymore," Alex said, taking her jacket off.

"They will send more," he said, peering out the windows.

"And I will take care of those too." Alex stomped ahead of Jack and pushed Weylin aside to get back on the train. She looked down at him ominously. "Get this thing moving before there is more bloodshed."

Jack shrugged up at the kid and stepped into the train. "What's up with you?" he asked Alex.

Weylin stumbled nervously to the controls.

"Nothing," she said sharply. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Why don't you go in the back and lay down, you're looking a little pale. We'll get this thing moving."

"Fine." Alex nodded sharply and disappeared down the hall.

Jack waited until the door clicked behind her. "Did something happen while I was out?"

Weylin shook his head. "You guys have just been sitting here since we got on. She's been kind of fading in and out, but so have you."

Jack ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, that's a bit fuzzy. Can you elaborate on the breeding thing please?"

Weylin stared at the ground and rocked back on his heels. "My people want your fire in their blood. It would mean power to their families and would make strong warriors. They sent all the high class women to your room while you were rooted."

Fuzzy pictures of pink women swam through his head. A sick feeling in the pit of his stomach made itself known. He felt dirty and used. "Well too bad for them, but there is probably too much genetic difference between our species."

"What does that mean?" Weylin asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"See I'm human. And you're... Some type of mole people. We have been separated for a long time and evolved differently. You have eyes that can see in the dark and you're small. This is good for living in caves. I am a human, but I am a first generation genetic modification. I have a very little chance of reproducing with a human, let alone with a mole person."

"What about with her?"

She's a hybrid. They were originally humans, like your people, but a long time ago, humans used to pay to get genetically altered. They did this to avoid disease and hear better, which is why they have those ears, but they realized that after so many alterations they would no longer be able to reproduce. So they started to breed with each other to get alterations, kind of like you would breed animals together to get certain traits. Nowadays, they classify and only certain classes can breed with other classes or else they won't be able to have children."

"If the hybrids had the same things done in the beginning, how come you can't have children?"

"My genetic alteration is much more than what they originally did. When they first started doing alterations, it was just a little nip here and a tiny tuck there. To give me fire, they had to practically strip all of my original genome, so I am not really human anymore."

"Why did you get altered?"

"That is a story for another time. Let's get this thing fixed before we get our heads bitten off." Jack said and looked at the door Alex disappeared through. He turned back to Weylin. "What do you need?"

"We just need to wait for the sun to come up so we can recharge." Weylin looked out the windows, as if wishing hard enough would make the sun rise faster.

"How did you get it moving before?"

"I found a way to charge the train using an Electra. I stole one from the Grand Machine that powers Astria."

"Can I have a look at it?" Jack asked.

The kid unlatched a door at the front of the cabin that revealed the inner circuitry of the train. He pointed to a small metal box. "This here is what stores the energy from the Electra. It's what got the train moving."

Jack quirked his lips to the side while looking at the large cubical device. It was hooked up to an old model battery that usually stored energy from solar panels. "So the Electra is giving energy to the battery. How?"

"It's an old relic that you dip in the lava pools and then connect it to this thing. It wasn't easy to get, but it's what made the train light up."

"So, it's just a power device and it's powered by heat?" Jack slid his fingers over the smooth silver finish.

"All of our city is powered by heat, which is why your fire is so important to my people."

Jack held his palm to it and transferred heat to it. The box warmed slowly, and as it did, the lights in the cabin brightened. Jack gave as much energy as he could muster. The train took it eagerly. His vision started to spin.

"That should keep us going for a while," Jack said as he leaned against the wall. "I think I am going to go lay down for a bit."

Weylin nodded and sat back in the control chair.

Jack pulled himself along, using the walls as support, and made his way to the engineer's quarters.? Alex lay back in an arm chair with her head tilted back. Her burgundy hair stuck to her pale face. Jack reached down to feel her head for a fever. She caught it in a flash. Her eyes snapped open and glared at him. She took a moment to register him, then let go. Her eyes closed again and she let her hand fall back to her lap.

Jack pulled a strand away from her face and felt her forehead. She was cold and clammy. He pulled a blanket from the bed and draped it over her lap, then fell on the bed and immediately passed out.