“This is crazy, man,” Paul said. “Are you guys sure about this?”
“Yes,” Tick said, not breaking his concentration. He thought he could see something dark, far down the tunnel.
“My brain wants me to run,” Paul insisted.
This time, Tick did turn, pointing at the poem still printed on the ground. “The message said we’d think that. Don’t move.” He looked back down the tunnel. There was definitely something dark way down there, growing larger, bit by bit.
“I’m watching you, Rogers,” Sofia said, almost shouting as the rumbling and shaking increased. “We’re going to wink away. No one’s going to kill us!”
“Fine! Quit treating me like a baby.”
Tick strained his eyes as the dark shape grew bigger. Something about its movement made him think it was twisting—corkscrewing through the tunnel like a roller coaster.
“What is that thing?” he said, though the roar had grown so loud he knew no one could hear him. He braced himself, knowing it would be easier if he didn’t look, didn’t see it coming. But his curiosity was too strong.
Then the air around them suddenly brightened, flashing a blinding white.
“Look!” Paul shouted from behind him.
Tick turned to see sand dunes and sunlight through a gaping hole in the side of the tunnel.
The door had opened.
Chapter
19
~
The Train Thing
A shot of elation and relief surged through Tick’s nerves, like he’d been rescued from a burning building. There it was, their escape! He even took a step toward it before reason pulled his thoughts back to reality. Sofia grabbed his arm.
“No!” she screamed.
“I know!” he answered, looking down at his feet. His toes were within inches of the red line. The world around them shook and roared, as if they were in a small building pummeled by a tornado. The wind had picked up, rustling their hair and clothes.
Paul stared at the open door, his eyes glazed over.
“Don’t even think about it!” Sofia shouted at him. “No matter what, remember? If we run, we die!”
Paul snapped out of his daze, looked at Tick. “Dude, it’s right there!”
“Whoever it is, they’re just tempting us!” Tick yelled.
He moved as close to Paul as he could, then pulled Sofia in. “Link arms!” He could barely hear his own voice.
Sofia obeyed immediately, but Paul hesitated, the wind ripping at his shirt.
“Do it!” Tick yelled.
Paul’s face sank into a frown as he wrapped his arm around Sofia’s elbow, then his other around Tick’s. All this time, the door remained open, staying open far longer than it ever had before. This was all planned out, Tick thought. But by who?
From the way they stood, only Sofia faced the onrushing nightmare, her face set in cold fear, eyes wide, mouth in a tight line. The air swirled around them, making them sway dangerously close to the line. Tick thought Sofia’s hair might simply fly off at any second. And the noise. The noise. Like screaming brakes and revved jet engines and pounding hammers and hissing steam—a chorus of terrible sounds that pierced Tick’s ears with sharp pain.
Finally, as if giving in to some inevitable fate, he twisted his neck to look behind him.
The thing was very close now, dark and hideous, spinning upside down and right side up again, corkscrewing as it sped toward them, faster and faster. Tick squinted, thinking the panic must have scrambled his brain—what he was looking at didn’t make any sense.
The poem had been more accurate than he’d thought. The train was not a train at all. It wasn’t a car, truck, or plane. It wasn’t even a spaceship. The thing thundering toward them at unbelievable speeds was an animal. The biggest, strangest, ugliest beast Tick had ever seen.
“What . . .” he said, trailing off, knowing his friends couldn’t hear him. Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing.
As the beast got closer, Tick felt the fear in him swell, burning like fire, surging through his veins, hurting him. The animal had at least a dozen sets of thick, muscled legs, almost a blur as they churned back and forth to move the creature in its twisting pattern. Its huge head spun but, impossibly, didn’t turn as quickly as the rest of its body, as if the legs were on springs or gears. Dark, scaly skin covered a hideous head, spikes and stunted bones sticking out in random places, enormous teeth jutting from its mouth.
As it approached within a half-mile, then a quarter-mile, Tick felt more scared than ever before, despite the things he’d been through. His mind couldn’t come up with any possible explanation why a gigantic glass tube would exist in the middle of the desert, made for a terrible beast to run through at ridiculous speeds. Confusion and fear mingled together inside his brain, squeezing his thoughts until his head pounded with a drumming pain.