Rescue

Part 7: The Track

    We woke up around an hour ago, and we're on the move through the forest. The opposite way from where we abandoned the car, of course.

    The awkward silence that lingered between me and Ray two nights ago is getting better now. It was certainly the worst when I got into his car with a bunch of cops chasing me, but now it's just comfortable silence or some small talk here and there.

    We walk side by side, me on the left and him on the right. I'm carrying a large stick because I can, and he's carrying my hoodie.

    "So, do we just live in the forest now?" he asks, half-joking and half-serious.

    "I don't know. We're both pretty high on the search-list from what we last heard." I casually respond. "We might end up in the Bahamas but who knows?"

    He lets out a small chuckle. "Or maybe way up north in Canada."

    "We're from Colorado, we can't handle that kind of cold." I say while rolling my eyes.

    "You're right, forget I suggested that," he huffs.

    I start to reply but in complete unison, we both trip and land on the forest ground. Ray gets up and brushes off the dirt on his hoodie immediately and I sit up trying to process what the hell just happened.

    I turn around examine the ground for what we tripped on, and nearly scream with joy. I quickly brush away the leaves and plants on the ground and reveal a train track.

    "PERFECT!" I exclaim with pure happiness. Ray's face morphs into confusion and I laugh breathlessly. "If we follow the train track, we'll get to a train station and take a train west towards my family cabin!"

    "We don't have enough money to ride a train, though." he says in a defeated tone.

    I roll my eyes and grumble. "We don't need money, we can just stowaway in a train car!"

    He coughs and his eyes widen. "Are you crazy?!"

    I shrug and cross my arms. "Do you have any better ideas?"

    "...No."

    Without thinking, I grab his hand and start running away from the sunrise with the track, knowing that meant we were going west.

...

    We're walking along the track still, it's somewhere in the mid-afternoon now. Our legs are going numb but we keep on pushing with hope in our hearts.

His knees buckle a bit as he takes a step and he barely stops himself from falling. I hook my arm around his and we continue to walk while helping each other keep balance.

"Almost... there..." I wheeze out while beginning to stagger.

"Just a little longer," he rasps.

A burning feeling fills my feet up to my ankles as I let go of Ray's arm and go off to the right. He follows me and we both sit down against a tree and start shaking our legs out.

...

The sweat makes my clothes stick to my body while Ray and I are once again walking with arms linked. Our legs are on the verge of not working, and we suddenly hear a rumbling noise off in the distance.

We turn around and see the lights of a train coming closer to us. We back away from the track.

"It's going west!" I jump up and down forgetting the pain in my legs. Ray laughs and we wait for the train to come closer. The blue front goes from looming towards us in the distance to zooming right past us.

Ray grabs my hand and we start running along with the train. He grabs ahold of a train car and hops on, releasing my hand. He turns around quickly and grabs my wrist, and I jump into the car with him lifting me off the ground.

We sit in the train car beside each other while we each catch our breath. After a few minutes of the train moving and gently rocking us, we look at each other and start laughing. We did it. Sitting beside each other, we're getting closer and closer to safety.