Turning, she found Wolf already at the window—his steps had been soundless. “We’re slowing down.”
It was a silent, agonizing moment before Scarlet felt it too.
Through the window, she could see a thick canopy of forest choking off the midday sun. There were no roads, no buildings. They weren’t stopping at a station.
She opened her mouth, but Wolf’s expression stopped her question before it could form. “Do you hear that?”
Scarlet tugged the zipper of her hoodie down to let air on her neck, and listened. The hum of the magnets. The whistle of air passing through an open window in the next cabin. The rattle of luggage.
Wailing. So distant it sounded like a fading nightmare.
Cold goose bumps grazed her arms. “What’s going on out there?”
The wall speaker clattered. “Passengers, this is your conductor speaking. There has been a medical emergency aboard the train. We will be experiencing a delay while we wait for medical authorities. We ask that all passengers remain in their private quarters and comply with any requests from the staff androids. Thank you for your patience.”
The speaker fell silent, leaving Scarlet and Wolf staring at each other.
Scarlet’s throat constricted.
A blood test. Crying. A delay.
“The plague.”
Wolf said nothing.
“They’ll put the whole train on lockdown,” she said. “We’ll all be quarantined.”
Out in the hall, doors were slamming, neighbors yelling questions and speculations at each other, ignoring the conductor’s request to stay in their own rooms. The android must have moved on to the next car.
Scarlet heard the rushed words: letumosis outbreak, posed as a question, a fear.
“No.” She spat the word like a bullet. “They can’t keep us here. My grandma—!” Her voice hitched, a tide of panic overwhelming her.
Someone down the hall pounded erratically on a door. The distant wailing grew louder.
“Get your things,” said Wolf.
She and Wolf moved at the same time. She threw her portscreen into her pack while Wolf crossed to the window and flung it open. The ground raced beneath them. Beyond the tracks, a dense forest stretched out, dissolving into shadows.
Scarlet checked the pistol in her waistband. “Are we jumping?”
“Yes. But they might be expecting it, so we have to do it before the train slows too much. They’re probably prepping enforcement androids right now to round up runaways.”
Scarlet nodded. “If it is letumosis, we’ve probably already become a quarantine.”
Wolf thrust his head out the window, looking both ways down the length of the train. “Now’s our best chance.”
Pulling inside, he heaved the bag onto one shoulder. Scarlet peered down at the ground fleeing beneath them, dizzied by a moment of vertigo. It was impossible to focus on any one spot as the speckled sun flashed against the trees. “Well. This seems dangerous.”
“We’ll be fine.”
She peered up at him, for a moment expecting to meet that crazed madman again, but his expression was stone-cold and clinical. He was focused hard on the landscape that whizzed by them. “They’re braking,” he said. “We’ll start slowing down faster now.” Again, it was a few seconds before Scarlet sensed it too, the subtle shift of speed, the way they were decelerating fast, no longer just coasting to a steady stop.
Wolf inclined his head. “Climb onto my back.”
“I can jump myself.”
“Scarlet.”