Anonymous - The Train

The Train

by Anonymous

Chapter 1: “The Train”

“Max, hurry up! It leaves in eight minutes!” Zoey shouted into his bedroom.

“Hold on!” Max shouted back as he hastily packed essential belongings into his school backpack. He packed everything he thought he would need: extra clothes for any kind of weather, toiletries—like his toothbrush and comb—first aid supplies, his phone and charger (although, based on where he, his mom, and his sister were going, he didn’t know if a charger would be of any use), random books to keep himself entertained and sane just in case if his phone died, and more random things he thought he might need.

He threw his backpack on his desk and felt a twinge inside him that he was forgetting something. At this point, his mind was racing. Here he was trying to remember what he was possibly forgetting instead of getting onto a train that might save his life.

He thought about how there had been a considerable amount of tension between the United States and a couple of other countries for quite a while now, and those countries had just reached their breaking point with the U.S. Bombs were said to be dropped at any minute now, right in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was all because climate change had gotten so bad, particularly in the U.S. for some reason, and they just felt the need to blame other countries for it instead of coming together and saying that it was everyone’s fault it was so bad. And it was very bad; it was near autumn in Pittsburgh and it was still around 7080℉, but that’s only Pittsburgh. As far as North America goes, the place is like a desert. Higher than normal temperatures for every season, more wildfires, bad air quality because of the high temperatures, and wildfire outbreaks. Then some of the states near the coasts are literally almost underwater because of how much the ice caps have melted and the sea levels have risen. There are more frequent and worse thunderstorms, including more destructive hurricanes. The worst one so far was Hurricane Ozzy, whose name has since been retired. Because of all of the destruction, there has been food, water, money, electricity, you-name-it shortages, and Max and his family felt all of it.

Focus, he thought as he tried to calm down and think about what he was forgetting if anything. He went through a mental checklist, checking everything off that he’d packed, but it still felt like there was something he was missing.

But then he saw it.

Right next to the lamp on his desk, there was a slightly rusted, gold locket necklace. Even though it was a necklace, he usually kept it in his pocket because he couldn’t stand wearing any kind of jewelry, except maybe a watch or a bracelet, because he knew he would constantly play with it. It was perfectly circular and fit securely in the palm of his hand and had an engraved scrolling foliate design on either side. He, Zoey, and his mom all had the same locket with correlating pictures in them, and Zoey and his mom always wore theirs on their neck, the way Max should have been wearing it. Max picked it up and

opened it to reveal a picture of his mom standing behind his sister on the left, and on the right, a picture of his whole family—his dad included.

Their dad had left their family when their mom surprised him by saying she was pregnant with Zoey, which was when Max was around five years old. As far as Max knew, their dad left because he couldn’t handle having two kids. After Zoey was born, Max didn’t like— possibly even hated—Zoey, and thought it was her fault their dad left. But after being forced to spend time together, Max couldn’t help but love Zoey and her spontaneous personality. Their dad leaving them left Max with abandonment issues and trouble accepting change. So quite quickly, he had grown to love Zoey and his mom to the point of being very protective of them.

Max looked into his father’s eyes in the picture and felt anger starting to bubble deep inside him, with just a hint of sadness in it. He closed the locket and put it in his pocket. I don’t care where he is or how he’s doing, he thought, he’s already made his decision.

“Max, let’s go!” Zoey yelled back into his room.

“Coming!” Max said as he threw on his backpack and ran out of his room.

He ran into the kitchen and went right to the fridge to gather any food he could and stuffed it in his bag. Who knew how long they would be gone for—or if they would even come back?

His mom was at the kitchen table hastily looking through her purse and mumbling to herself to see if she had everything and said sternly, “Okay, we have to go now,” as she threw her bag over her shoulder and began walking out the front door.

“Max, let’s go!” Zoey said as she dragged him by his arm to the front door while he was still stuffing food into his bag.

“Okay, okay!” Max yelled as he stood up and zipped his bag while speedwalking out the front door.

“You two, follow me and do not stop. Try to keep up, okay?” His mom focused on him and Zoey and said quickly.

“Good. Let’s go!” Their mom said. Max and Zoey nodded and they set off down the road that led to downtown.

Max threw on his backpack mid-run and looked at his surroundings. All the buildings were vacated and rundown and the atmosphere was dull and gray. It looked like it was about to rain. The sidewalk Max ran on was dry and had been starting to crack due to the neglect and constant heat it endured. The thing he focused on more, though, was the number of people running with them to get to the same train. He saw parents, siblings, and children all running with each other to board the train that would save them, only if they made it in time. Max might forget who he saw, but he would never forget any of their faces. Their expressions—ones of terror, angst, tension, pain, exhaustion—made him nervous, and the realization that any of this was actually happening sunk deeper into him and gnawed at his stomach.

He’d felt like they’d been running for hours as his lungs and legs started to burn from running so much.

“Are we there yet?” Zoey said, which is probably what everyone around them was wondering too.

Max looked over at her. She’d been so quiet this whole time he forgot she was there. He noticed that her face was red.

Probably because she’s been running for a long time, he thought, and he wouldn’t be surprised if his face were red, too.

But there was something else. He looked at her eyes and saw, from what

he could see as they were both running, that her eyes were glazed over with tears. Max gasped on the inside and felt his heart ache. He hated seeing Zoey, or anyone for that matter, cry, no matter what they were going through. He thought about stopping to hug her and tell her it would be okay and that they would make it to the train soon, but he knew he could not stop, so he didn’t.

“Just . . . up ahead,” his mom said through pants as she pointed up ahead at a huge crowd of people.

Oh, my god, he thought as the three of them slowed to a stop before the huge crowd.

Hundreds of people from around Pittsburgh were gathered onto the only train platform that would get them to safety. Max tried to look over the mass of people to see where they were boarding and saw guards near the train doors pushing people back and picking people out to get on the train, and shouting indistinctly above the roar of the crowd in front of them.

“It looks like they’re only picking certain people to get on!” Max shouted above the noise to Zoey and his mom. He was still trying to catch his breath from running so much.

“We have to get to the front!” his mom yelled to them. “Zoey, take my hand and your brother’s and stay together!”

Max took Zoey’s trembling hand in his own trembling hand and squeezed it, not only to make sure they didn’t get separated, but also to reassure her.

His mom squeezed past the bustling people on the platform. It was so hot with all the people around him and everyone constantly bumping against him made it hard for him to keep walking. He’d avoided pushing people back when they bumped into him, but after he almost lost his grip on Zoey’s hand when someone bumped into him, he didn’t hesitate to do so, but he still felt a little guilty afterward.

Just as they made it to the door, his mom reached out for one of the guards and yelled, “Please! Please, I have to get on with my children,” her voice filled with desperation. Two of the guards seemed to allow the three of them to board by pushing people in front of them to the side. His mom dragged her children to the front and thanked the guards.

Max looked at the people on the train. It was so packed that it looked like the doors wouldn’t even be able to close if they fit any more people on it. He swore he could see precipitation on the windows and steam flowing around from everyone being shoved in there.

“Ma’am, you need to board, the train is about to depart,” one of the guards urged.

“Okay, let’s go guys,” his mom said to the two of them as she started toward the entrance to the train.

Just as his mom started boarding the train, Zoey right behind her, Max felt a pair of hands clamp down on his shoulders and pull him back, making Max let go of Zoey’s hand.

“Hey!” Zoey shouted as she turned around, her brows furrowed.

“Not you,” one of the guards said as he kept his grip tight on Max’s shoulders.

“What?!” Max shouted at the guard. “I’m her brother, let me go!” he said as he struggled to get out of the guard’s grip.

“Let him go!” Zoey shouted as she tried to pull Max to the doors by the arms.

“Get your hands off my son!” His mom came out of the car and yelled.

She walked to try to help Max, but a guard came up to her and ushered her and Zoey to the car, calmly saying, “Ma’am, you have to go. The car is full and the train is about to depart.”