Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 02:27:46 -0500
From: Twisted Zero <TwistedZero@thevortex.com>
Subject: Engineer (Part 8)

And now, the exciting conclusion of...

"The Engineer"
by Twisted Zero

***************************************************************************
The Engineer (#8)

"How did it go, how did it go??" my father asked, of himself and the
driver.

"I'm tryin' to remember, trust me!  I'm not as old as you," he answered,
drumming his fingers on the wheel.  "'They say the Devil lit the match,
When Micheal Haley jumped the tracks....it...it, uh...s-something about a
stoney wall."

"'Sent flying from the stoney wall, his engine like a fireball'!" said my
dad, excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah," confirmed the driver.  "Now dead and buried in his train,"
here my dad synchronized with him, "Where still are heard his screams of
pain..."

"Uh..." muttered my dad, running his hands through his hair.

"'No longer does he burn his coal,'" started the driver,a hopeful smlie on
his face, "'but...'uhh..." and with the sigh of defeat, his smile fell.

"'buuuut....'" strained my dad, slapping the back of his head, trying to
think.

"'But in Salk Valley stirs his soul'?" asked Becky.  Dad looked at here
sharply.

"How'd you know that?" he asked.

"My dad's got a copy of that rhyme on a plaque in his office." she
shrugged.

"Oh yeah.  Good ol' Bernie," my dad said, then snapped back to the
situation at hand.  "Can you get us there?" my dad asked the driver.

"I dunno, never been out there," he said.  "But you can bet your lungs I'm
gonna try!"  He then floored the gas and they took off toward the city
limits.

****************************************************************************

We said our goodbyes to Bluestreak and got to the hospital parking lot.
Derrek and Floyd found Derrek's red pick-up and the rest of us got into
Harry's really awesome Cadillac.  That was sarcasm, by the way.  It was a
1999 Cadillac something, so it was all skinny and curved.  Not a cool car.
But I digress....

We pulled up to the parking lot exit and stopped.  I leaned out the window
and motioned for Floyd to put his window down.

"What?" he asked.

"We're stopping at Harry's place," told him.  "Stop back at my house and
get that fork thing you got, we're probably going to need it."

"No problem!"  he called, and off we were, in separate directions.

****************************************************************************

"You say it's Micheal Haley, correct?" asked Father Breaker, as he hurredly
searched thru the drawers in his dresser.  I'd followed him into his house,
but stayed in the doorway to his room.

"Yeah, it's him, alright," I said.  His wife had heard us run into the
house and came up behind me.

"Harry, what's going on?  Javian, your father was looking for you earlier,"
she said.

"Nothing you need to worry yourself over, my dear, just stay home and
everything will be fine."  He grabbed a bottle out of the top drawer and
put in his pocket, then picked up his bible and turned to face his wife.

"My dad was here?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, "He was looking for you, then went in search of Sheila--"

"Sheila!" exclaimed the preist, "Where is she?"

"Gone to Rebecca's house," said Kathlyn, "Now tell me, what's wrong?"

"There's no time," said Harry, and he lead me past her and to the front
door.

"But where are you going?!" asked his wife.  Father Breaker stopped at the
door and faced her.

"Salk Valley," he said, and then we left.

****************************************************************************

Floyd came running out of my house, carrying the things he'd found on his
little trip, and tossed them in the bed of Derrek's truck.

"Nobody's home," he said, as he hopped in and shut the door beside him.

"That's not good," said Derrek, as he put the truck in gear, and,
unintentionally, I assume, peeled out as he turned onto the street.

****************************************************************************

The Engineer stood on the tracks, the Scream Engine sitting motionless
behind him.  He was at a crossing, but no one was in sight.

"Damn," he said to himself as a fiddled with a twig, "These people may be
assholes, but they sure do catch on pretty quick."  Then, he looked up, but
not exactly at anything in front of him.  "Uh-oh," he said, snapping the
twig in half.  "Trouble on the home front," he said to no one in
particular, and lazily discarded each piece with a backward toss.

****************************************************************************

Granted, Father Breaker had a weak ass car, but he sure could drive it in a
hurry.  I had a death grip on the arm rest the whole ride.  But, then
again, the ride stopped a bit short.  We'd made it past three crossings and
gotten just out of town on Venton Road, the only road that goes by Salk
Valley, but on the forth and final crossing before the city limit, the car
got just about centered over the tracks and stopped.  And damn, people -- I
mean, it /stopped/.  We were moving at about sixty-some miles an hour, so
when the car froze in place, both of us, even with seat belts on, slammed
our heads against the interior; he on the wheel and I on the dashboard.  We
both bounced back into our seats and immeadiately began rubbing our heads.
Tin was sitting in the back right behind me, and had smashed into the back
of my seat.  Then we heard that ominous, yet oh, so familar blair, and we
slowly looked out the driverside to see the fright bluish light heading our
way.

"Oh, what, like you two didn't see that coming?" asked the Engineer from
the back seat.  Needless to say, we both jumped a bit at that and turned to
face him.  Neither of us could talk.  He looked to his right and saw Tin
pressing himself into his door, facing the ghost.  "Oh, hey, Batboy."
Nobody said a word.

"You guys /did/ see this coming, right?"  he asked.  None of us could even
move.  Something about knowing that we were about to fail without having
that reset button handy was a little stunning.  "Oh, for fuck's sake, guys.
Come on.  Did you really think I'd let you get past the last rail road, let
alone out of town?  No way.  Especially not my special little guys, here,"
here said, sneering at us.  "You're troopers, I'll give ya that."

The train was getting closer.  But what Micheal didn't realize was that
Derrek's truck was coming up behind us at a much greater speed.  I guess I
must have smirked or something.  I know I didn't have the energy in me to
smile at the moment.  But I do recall the Engineer looking at me funny for
a sec while I glanced out the back window.  Then I looked at him and just
said "We're not headin' out just yet, Mikey."

Derrek's truck hit the back of Harry's Caddy so hard...I mean...wow.
Father Breaker and I were still buckled in and bracing ourselves against
the wheel and dashboard, respectively, but we were still jostled around in
there.  Let alone the fact that the car itself was knocked forward about
twenty feet away from the tracks.  The neat thing was this: now, let us not
forget that although the Scream Engine will bust up whatever it hits,
Micheal himself is a vapor-like spectre when on the tracks.  It is only
when he's off the tracks that he's a solid figure.  (Yes, I know, because
after the time during my senior year when I saw that fucking train FLYING
through the AIR, I sat down and wrote out exactly how this son of a bitch
works.  But as I was saying....)  So, when the car was shoved away, the
Engineer stayed floating in the air.  And, when Derrek's truck passed the
tracks, the Engineer passed through that, as well.  Harry hit the brakes
after sliding quite a way, and Derrek did the same, so as to avoid hitting
the car again.  We all instinctively looked back at the Engineer who had
this totally flabbergasted expression.  For a moment, it was priceless, but
then Tin started yelling the word "Go" about a million times, and Father
Breaker hit the gas so hard he actually peeled out for a second, then took
off, with Derrek in hot pursuit.

"There it is!" I shouted, pointing at a wooden sign by a damp dirt road
that read "Salk Valley".  It looked more like a hiking camp-style path, but
the car fit, so we didn't see any reason to suggest otherwise.  There were
a lot of bumps and twists, though, making for an akward and less than
entirely speedy drive.  There were trees everywhere, like a forrest.  But
that's not really surprising, because it was a forrest.

Nobody said anything the whole way through the woods.  We were all too
scared to make conversation.  And then we saw the clearing.  It was
beautiful, really.  All grassy knolls and such.  But just ten thirty yards
ahead of us, the grass became a monstrous pile of boulders and rocks, and
just beside that was the mountain that Micheal and his train had fallen
from.  It was very high.  Very...very high.

We exitted the Caddy and were all three staring up at the cliff.  The rail
was still there, still broken and twisted, and the area around it still
charred black from whatever etherael explosion caused the event.

"Oh, shit," said Tin.  Derrek's truck pulled to a stop behind and too the
right of Harry's car, and he and Floyd got out.

"Yeah, so....  Full moon tonight," stated Derrek.

"That's a huh-uh on the 'things to say right now' list, Derrek," said
Floyd, closing his eyes.

"Guys," said Tin, tilting his head funny and holding his arms out in a way
to get everyone to quiet down.  "Listen."

With that being said, everyone did as they were told...and heard the quiet,
distant rattling of train cars.

"O.K., guys," I said, balling my hands in to fists, "get ready."

"Come on, Father," said Tin, and he and Harry and I walked over to the pile
of rocks, and Floyd reached into the bed of the truck real quick and pulled
out his newfound toys.  Harry stood atop it, and, oddly enough, it was in
the shape of a wavy line, or a snake.  Or, possibly, a train that had been
laid out from a hundred feet in the air.  You get the point, I'm sure.

The noise was getting to the point where you no longer had to try to listen
for it; it was clearly audible.  Derrek hopped back in his truck and
started it up, then put the window down and lookd at Floyd, who was
adjusting the little helmet thing he'd obtained.

"I don't know about you," said Derrek, "But I have defrinitely run out of
patience with this guy."

"Yeah, he kinda rubs me the wrong way, too," said Floyd.  "I'm all for
sendin' this guy back to where he came from, but I want to make him pay,
first.  For takin' Jason's legs.  For Charlie.  For Javian's mom.  For the
shit he's pullin' on the whole fuckin' town in general...."  and then he
narrowed his eyes and twirled the fork in his hands.  "But mostly for my
fucking car."

The low, rumbling sound of a speeding train grew louder and louder, until
everyone in the clearing paused and looked upward toward the old rails
around the cliff.  The train's ghostly whistle blew a tone of woe as the
Scream Engine came flying off the rails and plumetted straight down, about
twenty cars strong, into the rocky grave where the actual train -- and
engineer -- laid.  The burial site itself, however, remained unphased by
the transluscent intruder.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the holy water.  A gravelly,
dark cackle was heard, echoing throughout the woods and mountains.

"Here lies Micheal Haley," he began.  The wind started up again, and there
was a lot of snapping and cracking in the woods just behind him and to the
east, but he remained unfaltered.  In the not too distant woods, some trees
started lifting up and then disappearing back down to where they could
again not be seen.

"Oh, shit," said Floyd, and stepped ahead of the truck a bit.

"Father Breaker," I said, watching the activity in the woods between the
shoulders of Harry and Tin, "You might want to do this as altogehter
quickly as possible."

"Uh-oh," muttered Derrek, quickly looking over his shoulder and noticing a
set of headlights bumbling down the path behind him.  "Hey guys," he said
loudly, then turned forward and yelled out the window, "We got company!"

Instantly, a bright blast of blue-tinted light came from the woods and an
instant later came the bone-rattling call of the Scream Engine.  The car
came into view and pulled to a stop near the back of Derrek's truck.  Dad,
Sheila and Becky all got out in a heartbeat, and ran to Derrek and Floyd.
The driver got out after them, a bit more shocked at the sight before him.

"Javian!" yelled my dad.  My head snapped in his direction; he was the last
person I expected to see.

"Dad!"  Another flash of light and the growing rumble of a train gaining
speed.  There was a bunch of loud snapping and cracking in the direction of
the light, and then all was silent and still.  We all, including Father
Breaker, slowly made our gaze towrad the same area, finding a large, dark
gap where there should have been an awful lot of trees.  Then, as if an
invisible crane were carrying them, a barage of wooden planks were laid out
before the tunnel andtwo large iron ties floatred out and were set down,
followed by two more, and two after them, leading straight to the burial
that Tin, I and Father now stood upon.

"Ashes to ashes," started Harry, turning back to his task.  But as he did
so, the whistle damn near exploded and without a second to spare I tackled
Harry and Tin dove out of the way of the oncoming train.  The three of us
hit the ground and the train disappeared once over the burial.

"Oh no you don't, Pops," shouted the Engineer's voice, as the three of us
got to our feet.  "I have not come this far after waiting this long to have
the likes of you get ridduh me now!  Besides...."  he snarled, and all the
lights went out.  I mean it, this guy appearnatly shut off the stars,
because it was suddenly pitch black.  He then whispered, "You're doing it
wrong."

Everything lit up again, and Micheal was standing right behind Harry.

"Harry!!" Shouted my dad.  But before he could react, Micheal had Harry by
the the shoulders.

"Leave him alone!" I shouted, thinking, I suppose, that it would do the
trick.

"Uh, no," said the Engineer, "but ya know what I will do?  I /will/ induce
the deadliest game of Tag that any of you bone-brained chobuks have ever
been a part of!"

"Oh, my God!" said the driver.

"Get out of here!" my father commanded him, spinning on his heel.  The
cabbie was too scared to speak, but he got into his car right away.

"Oh, no, you don't, Taxi Man," said the Engineer, shifting to where he had
his left arm around Harry's neck, "You're part of this now, too."  And with
that, a signal tower burst up from the ground on either side of the path,
and as the cabbie tried to back out, the Engineer shot his arm up toward
them.  They each hit his arm with a red beam, and a black electric jolt
came from his hand and hit the car, stunning its movement and mangling its
body.  The driver managed to get the door open and rolled out safely.  "Oh,
and guess what!" shouted Micheal, "You're It!"  The train came by out of
nowhere and wiped out the scrambled car and both towers before heading into
another blue light arc.

"Let's go, Haley!" shouted Floyd, suddenly in front of the ghost and his
hostage.  "You and me."  The Engineer just looked at him for a second, then
gave a little half-smirk.

"You and me, huh?" he repeated, sizing up his challenger.  Then, with a
single 'Heh', he threw Harry to the ground and said "Bring it on, Warrior."

"Floyd, no!" shouted my dad, but as he stepped forward, the Engineer threw
his left hand toward him and a barage of lightless but relective railroad
crossing signs burst up from the ground surrounding him, Becky and Sheila.
He then looked back to Floyd.

"What, no cheap shot while I wasn't lookin'?" he asked.  "Admirable...but
not good strategy."

"You don't scare me," stated Floyd, poising himself for anything that may
suddenly happen.

"I don't have to!" shouted the Engineer.  Instantly, the blue arc opened
again, this time facing the same direction as the Engineer, but about ten
feet away and parallel to his vision.  His blasted straight across the
ground heading right for the center of the burial again, but headed into
another blue arc before it got there.  Floyd let out a yell of rage and
lunged toward his enemy, who made the same move, plunging them into a fight
like you've never seen.

I helped Father Breaker to his feet and led him to the burial again.  He
pulled another bit of dust from his pocket.

"Dust to dust," he said, letting a bit of it fall.  Haley yelped and caught
Floyd with a very hard backhand to the jaw and leveled him.  He then took a
few running steps and halted suddenly, sliding through the wet grass to a
stop just five feet away from Harry and I.  At that point, his eyes turned
a very bright red and he launched a seven foot flame, give or take that
caused Harry and I both to jump back and nearly fall again.

"What the fuck?!" I yelled, right before hitting the ground.

"I'm just fulla surprizes, huh?" asked the Engineer.

"Regular life of the party," said Tin, getting the dead one's attention.
The Engineer kept his forward leaning position, but turned his head long
enough to see Tin swing his bat.  (I'm not positive of where he got said
bat, but I think he retrived it from Derrek's truck.  Nevertheless, I'm
glad he had it.)  With a hollow sounding "k'thunk", Micheal went down and
Tin was at our sides making sure we were O.K.

"In all honesty," said the gravelly voice from the other side of the stoney
grave, "If you scumfuckers were doing this right, I wouldn't be putting up
such a resistance.  But noooooooo, you've gotta be IGnorant!"

The Scream Engine appeared again, this time showing up long enough to bust
through the bigger half of the cage that my dad and the girls were in.
Unfortunately, as soon as it was broken, it was repaired.

"Move it Tin, I need a clear shot!" Derrek shouted from his truck.  But
Micheal turned in response, bringing up two more signal towers, recieving
their red beams and blasted his truck with the black electicity, not
crumpling it, but shutting it down.  "Shit!" he yelled, as he began trying
to start it again.  Floyd sat up, rubbing his jaw and wiping the blood from
his lip, and Tin jumped up on the rocks facing the ghost.  The driver ran
up to the cage that held my dad and the girls and grabbed onto two of the
signs.

"What do I do?" he asked.  "What's goin' on?!"

"I don't know," said my dad, trying to think.  "Help them!"

"Oh, ya think?!"

"Hey, Batboy--remember these?" asked the Engineer, holding his hands up at
both sides, palms up, causing two rotating X-shaped railroad crossing signs
to appear.  Tin's eyes widened a bit.  "Thought so.  So -- who's up for a
game o' catch?"

With that, the signs hit buzzsaw speed and flew right at Tin, who yelped
and dove off the rocks.  The signs flew past him and tried to circle back,
but the wind had gotten stronger after every appearance of the Scream
Engine.  He ran about ten yards before he slipped on the wet grass, but
because of the wind, the signs were pushed off course and hit the dirt
about five yards away from him and each blew up upon contact.

Haley stepped up on top of his burial site and looked down.  Harry and I
were standing again, but hadn't dared to ascend.

"Well boys," he said, loudly and proudly, "I'd say it's -- " and then he
squawked with pain as a pitchfork thing was shoved through his stomach
again.  His expression quickly went from anguish to anger, though, as he
grabbed the prongs and forcfully ripped the weapon from Floyd's grasp,
taking it the rest of the way through his midsection.  He then wielded it
in both hands and turned, leering at Floyd, and jumped down, walking toward
him as Floyd backed away.  "This," he said, shaking it once at him, "is NOT
a TOY!"  The bluish-white light was beaming from inside his wound like an
eternal flame, but he faltered not.

"Earth to earth," said Harry, nearly finishing his piece.  The Engineer
jerked a bit, then let out an irritated sigh.  He clocked Floyd in the same
side of the head and knocked him down again, throwing the weapon to the
ground afterward.  He then spun on his heel.

"For the last...fucking...TIME!" he screamed, his eyes blinking off-and-on
a glaring red glow, and steam blowing all around his lower half.  "You're
fucking /doing it WRONG/!!!"

The train appeared again, about two yards in front of the treeline, and
driving its way into the woods about thirty yards before disappearing
again.  Derrek's truck finally started, but before he could move an entire
foot, Micheal looked at him and, in an irritated voice, simply said, "Oh,
shut up," and with a slamming jerk, the truck stopped moving forward.
Derrek kept gassing it, trying to get it to move, both forward and back,
but was, for the most part, simply peeling out and digging himself a rut.

Tin had made it to his feet, and picked up his bat.  I think he was about
to check on the girls because that's the direction he was facing, but Haley
turned and looked right at him.

"Hey, Batboy!" he shouted, getting Tin to stand still and look him in the
eye.  "Timmmberrr!" he whispered, a strange look on his face.  As if on
cue, because it was, a red and white bar lowered rather quickly from the
treeline and dropped on Tin's head, dropping him to the ground again.

Needless to say, things were getting really bad.  Derrek hadn't been given
a chance to do much of anything yet and now he was behind and invisible
wall, and Tin was just knocked out cold, as was Floyd, appearantly.

"You two!" shouted Haley, turning back to Father Breaker and I.  "Get up
there," he finished, and we were both suddenly encased in a bright glow
that lifted us about ten feet into the air, much like when he'd carried Tin
to my house.

"Oh, fuck," muttered the cab driver.  He said it rather faintly and from
clear across the clearing, but the Engineer heard him and turned to face
him.

"You're not dead yet?" he asked, out of true perplexity.  "Well, I'm
puttin' you on Target Mode."

"What?!" the driver yelped.

"Taxi man," the ghost said, rather nonchallontly, "You are now truly 'It'."

With that, the Train reappeared, heading straight for the cabbie, giving
him only two yards to leap out of the way before crushing him.  He managed
to do so, and the train vanished about ten yards, a.k.a., three seconds,
later.

"Oh, shit," he said.

"That'll keep ya busy," said the Engineer, a smile in his voice.  He then
stood up perfectly straight and seemed calm, though still red-eyed and
steamy.  he leaned back and cracked his knuckles and faced the caged trio.
"And now," he said, "to add insult to injury...."  And then, with his voice
lowered, he slowly bowed and extended his hand.  "Sheila...if you please?"

"No--" started Becky, and my dad added "Sheila, don't--" but both were
quickly silenced when an extra sign burst forth and uppercutted them both.
The ring of signs itself was parted, and Sheila was suddenly entranced
again.  Derrek was now screaming helplessly, though muffled it was, and was
gunning his engine like never before.

My father was reeling a bit, but he was trying to get to his feet, so more
signs were brought up from the ground, separating he and becky into their
own little cages.  Sheila had this blue/white glow about her, and her eyes
seemed totally engulfed in it.  Like some kind of robot, she took a step
toward him, bringing an almost entirely audible scream from Derrek.  He was
becoming so frantic with how he treated his truck that it was starting to
wobbled side to side a bit, mimicking his emotional state.

The train appeared again, blasting through and just barely missing the
quick-footed cab driver who dove to the ground in order to avoid his
would-be doom.  Floyd raised his left arm up to rub his head, but Haley was
too intent on Sheila's approach to notice.

"Father in Heaven," Harry said loudly, almost defiantly, from his
levitating hold near me.

"Don't start," said Haley, pointing to him with his free hand.  But Harry
was not about to listen.

"Though lost and darkened this soul may be," he continued.  Sheila was now
twenty feet from the Engineer's hand.  Derrek's truck now had about a foot
forward and backward that he was slamming into, trying to break the
invisible walls and get to the monster awaiting his helpless girlfriend.
"I beg you forgive this man his sins and give him new life -- "

"Hey!" shouted Haley, turning to face Harry, his hand still waiting for
Sheila's.  "Why haven't I just killed you yet?!" he asked, and with that,
Harry fell with a thud to the ground.  I shouted his name, but I don't know
why; perhaps I thought it would help.  "You've been an inconvenience for
too long, Pops."  In an instant, and I say it that way because Haley didn't
retrieve him and Harry didn't walk to him, Father Breaker's collar was in
the grip of the Engineer's hands.  "It's the end of the line, Preacher
Man!" he shouted with a grotesque laugh.  I could tell by his echoing
cackle that he'd been waiting to say that to somebody.  He held Harry
close, and started to do one of the weirdest things yet: his eyes stopped
their alternating flash and became a solid red glow, and his head began to
rise.  Well, just the top part.  It was almost like his mouth was opening,
but instead of his jaw lowering like normal, his head split at the jaw
hinge and, with what looked like twisted steel plating, the upper half of
his head rose about a foot.  His teeth were jagged metal shards, and two
railroad spikes on either side of his mouth extended outward, all the while
thrusting pnuematically.

His focus of anger, though, was his soon to be downfall: He forgot entirely
about Sheila, who stopped walking about five feet away from him.  Derrek
finally broke through the invisible wall and sped off toward the Engineer
like nobody's business, screaming the battlecry "You are so mine!".  Floyd
made it to his feet and, seeing what was going on, reached quickly for his
pitchfork.  And, to top things off, the driver got brave.  He ran close to
the Engineer and slid up to about six yards away from him.

"Hey!" he yelled, getting Micheal's attention.  The ghost didn't say
anything but snapped his head in the cabbie's direction.  "Y-you're it!" he
said, fear rising to new peaks inside him.  The blue arc of light appeared
behind the cabbie, and the expression on Haley's face was priceless.  I
fell from my spot in the air and, without stopping to feel the pain, hopped
right up and bolted across the burial, tackling Sheila out of harm's way.
Simultaneously, the cabbie had run toward the Engineer and swiped Harry,
falling to the ground with him and rolling over the burial to the safer
side.  Haley tried to follow their leap, but Derrek, who had sped as best
he could across the ewt grass, pulled a fishtail maneuver and slammed him
with a full body shot, sending him backwards.  Floyd had run up the two
yard distance between his laying spot and the ghost and caught him off of
Derrek's truck and on the prongs of the pitchfork, this time through the
chest.  Floyd winced and leaned his head away while holding the fork and
the Engineer outward, terrified, but awaiting the Scream Engine's arrival.
Micheal looked right at the train, and for two seconds, gave a scream
identical to that of the Scream Engine's whistle, and was then forcefully
and, I would judge, painfully taken from Floyd's pitchfork, by his own
vehicle's unstoppable force.

"And by the glory of the Holy Spirit," Harry finished, gasping for breath,
"May he rest in peace!"

The Scream Engine froze in place, though the chugging sound played on, and
the blue arc that had opened just three feet before it swirled to a central
closing point.  The chugging faded away as a thunderous wind picked up and
blasted throughout the clearing, and Haley himself was drawn back into the
burial, in an elongated, wirey fashion.  As he went, though, his voice
could be heard over the blusterous noise, screaming in hate-fueled wails.
His spirit re-entered the burial with a final blue sparlke, and the wind
stopped instantly.  Everything was calm, except I swear to God I heard the
last few echoes of his voice having shouted "You're doing it wrong".  Of
course, I may be mistaken.

I looked up and saw my dad, in his railroad crossing sign cage, sitting up
with a bloody mouth, and Becky still out cold in hers.  I looked to the
right of them and over back by the treeline to see Tin still out under that
bar.  I looked down to see Sheila staring right back up at me, and saw it
fit to get off, especially since Derrek was right there anyhow, begging to
get a response from her as to her condition.  I turned around and saw
Floyd, taking off his helmet and breathing very deeply, stopping once to
swallow, and then going back to his breathing.  And on the other side, I
saw the cabbie standing up, with Father Breaker right beside him.

"Is he gone?" I asked, hoping to get a positive answer.  "Did it work?"

"I certainly hope so," said Floyd, staggering over to Derrek's truck and
leaning against it, his knees having gone very weak all of a sudden.
Father Breaker began to talk, and Floyd lowered the tailgate, hoisting
himself up on it, Sheila and Derrek giving him their attention.

"I do believe, boys and girls," said a smiling Father Breaker, also
slightly winded, "That we have all silenced a very noisy individual."

I fell onto my back and stared at the sky.  I don't know what I was
thinking.  In fact, I don't think I /was/ thinking.  Micheal Haley was
gone.  Banished.  Finito.  The Engineer was no longer a threat to
anybody...or their families...or their friends.  And it was all thanks to
me...and mine.  Then it occurred to me that one of these heroes was neither
my friend nor my family.  I sat upright and stared straight ahead at the
cab driver.

"Hey," I said.

"Yo," he answered, looking right back at me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Aaron," he said, the fear draining him as much as the rest of us. "Now
what the hell just happened?!"

"Easy my boy," said Father Breaker, putting a hand on his shoulder.  "It's
a long story."

"I am extremely listening," said Aaron.  And, as Floyd and Derrek began
tearing down the reflective prison holding my dad and Becky, Father Breaker
started telling Aaron the whole story.  I went and made sure that Tin was
O.K., and, in about fifteen minutes, everyone was awake and on their way to
the hospital.  Come to think of it, we spend a lot of time at the hospital.

****************************************************************************

Seven months later -- to the day -- and the six of us walked out of
Cemetary High for the beginning of a three month span.  Floyd wsn't there,
but that's because he went to Greenstone High on the other side of town and
was most likely doing the same with his local circle of best friends.
Nobody was saying anything, but nobody had to; we were all smiling, though,
reflecting the image of the sunny, breezy day, if it could be personified.
Even Bluestreak, clinking along with his new legs, had an undeniably good
feeling; not a care in the world, at least for the moment.  We got halfway
to my house, the closest of them all, before anyone felt the need to speak.
Unfortunately, it was I who had to break the sublime silence.

"So, what's goin' on for our first night of educational emancipation?" I
asked of the crowd behind me.

"Sheila and I are gonna hit the party at Maxwell's place.  Supposed to be
one hellraisin' hootinane, from whta I heard," said Derrek, draping an arm
around his lover's neck.

"'Hootinane'?" asked Tin, but it was taken as rhetorical.

"I might go, too," said Becky.  "But if not," she continued, gently
touching Sheila on the arm, "I'll still meet you tomorrow morning to go
shopping."

"Cool," said Sheila, returning Becky's smile.

"I really don't think I'm in the mood for a Stanley Maxwell party tonight,"
I said.

"You mean 'hootinane'," corrected Tin, making me smile as I watched the
pavement pass under my feet.

"Well, I'm definitely not gonna be there," said Streak.  "I'm meetin' Floyd
at his house 'round eight and we're goin' to a party thing at one of his
friends' houses."

"See ya 'round then, Blue," said Derrek, as we hit their intersection of
departure.  They made the rest of their temporary goodbyes and headed off.
The next intersection over, and Becky did the same, heading in the opposite
direction.  After that, it was me, Tin and Bluestreak, walking again in
silence.  A few blocks before we got to my house, we started talking again,
but mainly about how nice of a day it was for a last day of school.  Then,
without warning, I decided to change the subject.

"So, you're not goin' to Max's place, huh?" I asked Bluestreak.

"Nope," he said, still clinking behind us.

"Are you and Floyd really goin' to a party?" I asked, with a 'knowing'
voice.

"Yeah," he said, a cautious or wondering tone in his voice.

"Oh," I stated, simply, and we crossed the intersection and stopped in
front of my house.

"Why?" he asked, his normal voice returning.

"Cause if you two were gonna hook up, or something, I just want you to
know, Tin and I are totally cool with that."

I can't say I got him to blush, but Bluestreak fought so hard not to smile
right then.  He even looked down the street, to his shoes, and then back to
me before saying "You guys are so fucking gay."  Tin and I busted out into
laughter, and Bluestreak said "goodbye" and headed for home.  We watched
him for a few seconds, then Tin looked at me with a very sexy twinkle in
his eye.

"So what are /your/ plans for this evening?" he asked.

I looked him right back in the eye and said, "You."

****************************************************************************
I hope you've enjoyed my little story, and, should there be any call for
more, I hope you like them, too.  Thanx for readin'.

     				--Twisted Zero  (TwistedZero@thevortex.com)