THE THIRD RAIL

9:55 PM, 15TH MARCH

Adam Melville drove the Range Rover steadily down the backroads of Mill Willow. As the colder months of winter were ending, the council had stopped salting the roads, leaving clusters of muddied snow and slick ice to form over the asphalted road in patches. Melville kept his attention focused on the road ahead, though he kept this intense diligence from his passenger and his voice relaxed.

“How are you feeling, soldier?” Melville asked.

“Good.” Allec nodded his head, keeping his hands close to the heater.

“I mean, about our little incident last month.”

Allec sheepishly shrugged off the question.

“You seem nervous.”

“Just cold is all.” Allec performer an exaggerated little jitter.

“Lieutenant Monarch tells me who’ve had your doubts about Kaylan’s parents, and how we disposed of the bodies.”

“It’s just…”

“Yes.” Melville keenly interjected.

“Well, Kaylan's mom…She’s in a coma.”

Melville hummed in understanding for the young man to carry on.

“And, what if…What if Angus was alive still when we tipped them off that bridge.” Allec blurted out his concern, as quickly as he could. “What if we killed him? After all, we thought Mrs. Wilkes was dead.”

“I’ve worried about this as well, son.”

“I just think…maybe we should talk to someone about it. You know…someone who would understand. After all, we have the lieutenant on our side. And the sheriff…”

Allec’s words were cut short, as Melville swerved the car sharply off the road, turning at the train crossing and onto the tracks.

Allec gripped the front glove compartment with both hands in shock, staying silent and frozen with terror.

“Allec, I need you to promise me something.” Melville calmly stated, raising his voice over the loud, chugging rhythm of the railroad ties under the wheels. “I need you to promise me that you will not breathe a word to anyone about what we did.”

Allec’s head oscillates rapidly back and forth between the road ahead and his crazed driver.

“Allec!”

“No. No, goddammit, you’re fucking crazy!”

“Allec, you, me, and the lieutenant have entered down a path now, we can’t just get off!” Melville sprayed his defense. “In fact, if the authorities were to find out what we did, Kaylan can kiss his job goodbye, which means he can’t keep up with mortgage payments and he’ll be living under a bridge within the week! His story will not be any different from everyone else in Mill Willow! They need the factory! We all need the factory, Allec!”

“But…”

Allec’s heart skipped a beat, as the bright floodlamps of the distant train shone through every rearview mirror. The blinding light trapped the two men further on their desperate path.

“There is no but, Allec. We can’t deviate from our plans and we can’t look back.”

Allec looked back at the blinding light again.

“We are on this path until the next exit. Or we can shrink to the pressure and stop here for the 9:15 out of Boston to take us out and rip us to shreds.

“Okay fine!” Allec agreed hastily.

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, Mister Melville!”

The distant foghorn blared its warning from its closing distance. The large belch of the horn caused Allec to fumble with the door handle, with no luck. He panicked when he realized the door was child-locked.

“I need you to swear to me, Allec!”

Melville looked ahead at the next station the barriers were open for their escape from the closing-in train. “Should I take this exit? Or try our luck with the next one?”

Allec looked back at the lights quickly gaining on them, at fifty feet and closing.

“This one, turn!” Allec yelled as he tried to grab the wheel.

“Get your hands off me!” Melville roared, sending Allec obediently back in his seat. “I need you to swear to me Allec you will not tell a soul!”

“I swear.”

“You will not do anything to destroy this town!”

“I swear. I swear to God! Please!”

Melville swerved off the tracks, sending the car careening back onto the icy road. As the Range Rover staggered back onto the slick asphalt the tires struggled to gain any traction. The car came to a long sliding halt. Rufus caught only a blurred glimpse of the train, its harsh headlamps quickly lost to the black, behind a thick curtain of dense trees.

“You’re insane,” Allec stated, his chest heaving with adrenaline.

“Insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting different results, son.” Melville calmly replied. “And if I have to take measures like this again for you to understand your own selfish stupidity, then I’m afraid it will be you who is crazy. And that’s if I choose to win over your loyalty with this much effort again, I’m afraid it will be a more final solution for you. Do you understand me, solider?”

The threat lingered in the air. The danger grew further for Allec, as Melville climbed out of his driver’s side and walked over to Allec’s door. As he opened the door, Allec looked for a gun or a knife in the old man’s hand.

“Get out,” Melville ordered.

“What?”

“Get out,” Melville grumbled again, this time with more severity. “You’re walking home. I’m sick of explaining myself to you.”

“But…it’s freezing.” Allec signals pathetically to his thin sweater.

“The long walk and brisk air will do you some good.”

Allec climbed out and waited with a stupefied expression as he gormlessly watched Melville climb back in and drive off into the distance, crossing back over the train crossing. Allec made his way back to the empty and quiet train station and followed the tracks back to Mill Willow. He saw many faces in those dark trees.

Melville pulled the car up to the abandoned train station half a mile from where he dropped off Allec. Within five minutes of idling in the heated car, Melville climbed out as he saw the high beams of the SUV driving along the tracks. The cars smoothly rolled off the tracks and pulled up alongside Melville. Oscar climbed out and took with him the giant speaker system that was strapped into the passenger seat, and placed it in the trunk.

“Did it work?” Oscar asked.

“Like a charm.”

“What now?”

“Now, we wait and see if we’re in the clear. If we don’t have his loyalty we will have to snuff out that little shit.”