Lily jolted awake as the train shook from hitting a rough patch of track. Composing herself quickly, she looked over at the prisoner in the next car over. He was still sitting there, bound to his chair by some rope. Lily exhaled a bit, standing up straighter. Her partner, Ken, peered over at her from the other corner of the car, a grin plastered on his face. "Oh, Sleepin' Beauty's awake. Get some good rest?"
"Oh fuck you," Lily sniped back, suppressing a chuckle. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few seconds. Any longer and I'd have to scoop your ass off the floor." Lily rolled her eyes but looked back at the prisoner, who remained seated, slumped over in the chair.
"Has he moved a single muscle since we left Lone Star?" she asked, a hint of unease creeping into her tone.
"Not that I've seen. He's… disturbingly tranquil… if such a thing was possible." Ken narrowed his eyes at the prisoner. Lily side-eyed the man and ran through what she knew of him. His name was Matthew Moreau, and he was probably the most wanted criminal in Texas. Every Ranger knew his name and face from the wanted posters, and he was finally apprehended outside of Lubbock, where he was transferred to the Robertson Unit in Lone Star. Now, he was in Lily's custody, en route via train to Austin, where Moreau is to be tried. Satisfied, Lily turned back from the restrained man, looking outside. The landscape grew more rugged, and Lily guessed the train was finally entering the Hill Country.
"Well, beats him strugglin' to get out," Lily remarked. Ken snorted back a laugh before an uncomfortable silence settled in between the two. "So…" Lily awkwardly began, "where do you think they'll send us next?" Ken shrugged.
"Could be Lubbock, could be Houston, could even be Oklahoma or the Rio Grande. There's plenty of places in need of Rangers." Lily nodded. Ken affixed her with an inquisitive gaze. "You really haven't gotten out much, eh, rookie?" Lily sighed and shook her head.
"I wasn't exactly thinkin' about leaving San Antonio back when I was young, and even after I got clean, my militia unit didn't exactly go further north than Boerne or further south than Poteet. If we were lucky, we would be sent up to Blanco, like when the super mutant Shale tried crossin' the Hill Country to get to Austin."
"Yeah, I remember that. Fun times," Ken deadpanned.
"You were there, too?" Lily asked, suddenly curious.
"Yeah, I was. Foxtrot Company was sent out to Blanco after Shale breached Scarlet Zamora's defenses in Eden, and we got there to set up defenses around the town. You know this, of course."
"And I know what happened afterward," Lily replied grimly. Scenes from the battle replayed in her mind's eye, scenes of dead mutants and soldiers, the living desperately trying to hold back a tide of green and keep any remaining civilians safe from the marauding mutants. Lily shook herself out of it, and Ken regarded her silently.
"That was your baptism by fire, wasn't it?" he asked simply. Lily nodded.
"Yeah. One helluva baptism, too…" She chuckled darkly. "We ended up getting pulled back from the town to focus on hitting Shale as his army moved east." Ken nodded, taking in the details Lily provided. Lily had only relatively recently been assigned to be the old veteran ranger's partner, so neither knew much about the other, at least as far as Lily could guess.
"Straight to Austin, right?" Lily nodded in response.
"Yeah, ferrying evacuees from Blanco. Heard y'all slowed down Shale's forces for long enough."
"That we did. Harried 'em from the brush as they marched through the Hill Country. It whittled 'em down enough."
"Yeah, thanks for that. We got out more people than expected because of that." Ken just nodded and returned to silence, the sound of the train's wheels clacking on the rough tracks replacing the previous chatter. The silence almost became awkward for Lily…
BOOM!
…If it wasn't for the loud explosion that rocked the car in front of Moreau's prison car, sending tremors throughout the train, jolting both Rangers to alertness. "What the hell?!" Lily exclaimed as she unslung her lever-action rifle. Moreau had fallen over in his chair, but there were men in the car in front of him, armed with an assortment of weapons.
"Contact!" Ken called out, unslinging his own rifle and firing on the unknown men. Lily scrambled for cover, hiding behind the thick wooden wall in front of her. A bullet whizzed over her head, shattering the window in the process, raining glass shards onto her. Amidst the chaos and confusion, Lily finally peeked over the window frame and carefully aimed her rifle, firing on a man who was trying to untie Moreau. He dropped like a sack of bricks as the .45 caliber bullet slammed into his chest.
"They're tryin' to take Moreau!" Lily called out to Ken. Ken grunted and spat out a curse, dropping another incoming hostile with a revolver with a well-placed shot with his rifle.
"We can't let his buddies have him!" Lily nodded and fired again, this time bringing down a man with a double-barreled shotgun. Unfortunately, the volume of fire was getting too much for Lily to take, as a stray round struck her armored chest plate right at her collarbone. Lily hit the ground with a thud, a sharp pain coursing through her.
"Fuck…!" Lily cursed as the pain, despite being dulled by adrenaline, screamed in every nerve ending in her collarbone. Ken ducked just as a blast of buckshot whizzed over his head just barely and scooted over to Lily.
"You ain't dyin' on my watch, rookie!" he exclaimed, taking out a stimpak from his belt and jamming it into her bicep. Despite the needle, Lily felt a renewed vigor, and exhaled sharply as the relief replaced the screaming pain. She slowly rose and grabbed her rifle, looking back at Moreau's car. Unfortunately, Moreau was freed, and a few hostiles were shoring up his rear. Lily raised her rifle to shoot, but her rifle clicked empty, allowing them to escape.
"Fuck, they're gettin' away!" Lily cried, trying to run into Moreau's car, thumbing new cartridges into her rifle. She didn't get very far when another explosion rocked the front of Moreau's former prison car, one powerful enough to separate the rest of the train from his former prison car. As the now-shortened train sped on past, Lily dropped down to her knees. "FUCK!" she practically screamed, frustrated that her first big mission as a Ranger failed so horribly. Ken came in and dropped down to one knee, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder.
"It's alright, rookie… You can't win 'em all…" The tone of Ken's voice told Lily that there was some personal experience to back it up. Lily sighed and nodded, slowly standing up.
"Right… Fuck me, though… It was like they were expectin' us." Ken nodded as the unattached train cars slowly rolled to a stop, standing up not long after Lily.
"Yeah… it's statin' the obvious, but they clearly planned out an ambush." Lily considered Ken's words.
"How, though?" she wondered aloud. She looked around the former prison car, which had about five corpses lying still in it. "It wasn't like the train Moreau was gonna be on was common knowledge." Then, the answer came to her. "A mole…" Ken nodded with a small grin.
"Now you're thinkin'," he responded. "That was my initial thought. Moreau has friends in many different places, and they're always a step ahead of us. Someone out in Lone Star probably slipped someone else the intel." Lily didn't like what Ken was saying.
"So we have some loose lips sinking our ships…" Lily pondered. Ken nodded, working his way back into the observation car.
"Corruption has been an issue for a while, even out in Lone Star. Grease up someone's palm enough, and you never know what you'll find." Lily just shook her head, following close behind Ken.
"Sounds like we need to tighten security," Lily snidely remarked with a small snarl.
"When we get back to Austin, I'll make sure to bring it up with the Captain," Ken responded, halfway between resolute and nonchalant.
"Speakin' of… we hoofin' it the rest of the way?"
"Literally." Ken exited the observation car and entered the adjacent stable car. Their horses were understandably spooked by the explosions, so the two Rangers had to calm them down.
"Hey, easy there, boy…" Lily consoled her horse, a horned horse she called "Dusty", on account of his sandy and grey coat, brushing her hand across his neck and mane. Dusty whinnied a little as he finally began to calm down. "No one's comin' to get you anymore…" Dusty finally settled down and Lily got to work bridling him. Once his bridle was on, next came the saddle, both of which Lily deftly performed. She then led him out of the stable car, out into the warm Hill Country spring day. Ken followed closely behind, atop a black horse he had called "Shadow." "Ready, old timer?" Ken chuckled a bit.
"Whenever you are, rookie. Lead the way." Lily smiled a bit, some of the previous stress about Moreau escaping starting to melt away.
"Alright, you heard him, Dusty. It's a long way to Austin. Hyah!" She tapped her spurs into Dusty's side, bringing him to an extended canter. Shadow quickly fell into step with Dusty, carrying both of the Rangers down the railroad track, following their initial route, just by horse and not by train.
