Luce could make sure that the brake wasn\u2019t on, but there wasn\u2019t much she or any of them could do to speed up their slow roll into the station. As soon as the reached the far end of the platform Bug and Cy were off and running towards the station building and Lumpy\u2019s slowly-moving form.
\u201cDon\u2019t get too close if he\u2019s sick.\u201d Luce yelled after them. \u201cCheck first!\u201d
The others had completely forgotten this in their panic, and had to suddenly slow down, coming to a stumbling skidding halt an arms-length from Lumpy, who was trying to drag himself up and onto a bench. Beg and Cy looked at each other, then at Lumpy, trying to figure out some way to help.
\u201cLumpy!\u201d Cy asked. \u201cWhat do we do? What do you need?\u201d
Lumpy got an elbow onto the bench and levered himself into a slump against it, somewhere between sitting and lying down.
\u201cSick. Don\u2019t get close.\u201d He said, then added. \u201cWater.\u201d
Bug pointed at the slowly-approaching railcart convoy, and at Cy\u2019s nod, ran back along the platform and jumped onto their railcart, digging around for one of the water jugs.
\u201cHe\u2019s still speaking.\u201d She reported to Luce. \u201cBut he looks sick, like the stranger but not as bad. Or grey.\u201d
She waited for the railcart convoy to close the remaining gap, then jumped back onto the platform and headed back towards Lumpy while Luce applied the brake and came to a halt.
\u201cI\u2019m going to try to pour this in your mouth, OK?\u201d Bug said, hoisting the jug.
\u201cYou\u2019ll probably get pretty wet,\u201d Cy added. \u201cBut \u2026\u201d
He paused and sniffed.
\u201cBut maybe it\u2019ll wash away some of the vomit?\u201d Lumpy asked, tipping his head back and opening wide. \u201cThat\u2019s a good thing, believe me.\u201d
Bypassing Lumpy\u2019s coughing and spluttering, which Cy and Bug tried to avoid being sprayed by, Luce headed through the waiting room doors and into the building to look for Mister Station. She peered into the ticket office he used as a bedroom, finding it empty, and then stepped into the workshop where his machines sat and hummed. The table in there was covered with dozens of little jars and containers, all different sizes, arranged in groups and labelled with little scraps of paper. A chalkboard she vaguely recognised from outside the village hall was propped up on one of the benches, neat lists of names written upon it, each name with a mark against it. There were a lot of ticks, and only a few question marks.
She spotted Mister Station\u2019s cables heading out through a side door, and followed them, stepping out onto the dusty gravel road in front of the station. In the area outside the waiting room, Mister Station was carefully lifting Doctor Erik off of a bicycle trailer and placing him gently on the ground, next to his wife.
The whole road was covered with people; Cy\u2019s parents were there, and Bug\u2019s father, and Doctor and Mrs Erik, and \u2026 Luce suddenly couldn\u2019t breathe when she saw her mother lying there, just as still and grey-looking as all the others, but she must have made a noise of some sort, because Mister Station stood up and looked around, starting to speak.
\u201cMister Langst \u2026 Luce!?\u201d He corrected himself, surging to his feet and taking a few steps towards her. \u201cLuce, you\u2019re OK? You got the message?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mister Station noticed Luce\u2019s fixed stare, then grimaced as he tracked her gaze and saw who she was looking at.
\u201cDon\u2019t worry \u2026\u201d He said, then stopped himself and looked straight at Luce, who was still staring at her mother. \u201cLuce? Luce, please look this way.\u201d
After a long pause, Luce looked up.
\u201cIs she \u2026 Are they all dead?\u201d She asked.
\u201cNo.\u201d Mister Station replied. \u201cThey\u2019re sick; They\u2019re very sick, but they\u2019re not dead.\u201d
He looked around.
\u201cDid you see Mister Langston? He\u2019s been helping me move everyone.\u201d
\u201cLumpy\u2019s out on the platform.\u201d Bug called out from the doors to the waiting room. \u201cHe saw us arrive, then fell over.\u201d
She looked around, spotted her father\u2019s un-moving form, swallowed hard, and wiped at her eyes.
\u201cHe said to tell you that he needs another \u2018booster\u2019, whatever that is; Cy\u2019s getting some water into him and trying to deal with the vomit.\u201d
Mister Station nodded, adjusted Doctor Erik into a more comfortable position, and started making his way between the people, back to the station building.
\u201cPlease be careful not to touch anyone.\u201d He warned. \u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what this thing is yet, so \u2026 Be careful?\u201d
\u201cCy!\u201d Bug called out, looking back over her shoulder. \u201cStay out on the platform with Lumpy, OK?\u201d
She gestured around at the road full of motionless people.
\u201cI heard you tell Luce that they\u2019re not dead; Why aren\u2019t they moving though? Our one moves and mumbles.\u201d
She looked hard at Mister Station.
\u201cAnd how come you\u2019re not sick? Or worried about touching them?\u201d She demanded. \u201cAnd why isn\u2019t Lumpy as sick as the rest?\u201d
Mister Station pointed to his cables, then gestured at the workshop side of the station building.
\u201cMy immune system, most of it at least, is in there.\u201d He said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot it can\u2019t handle.\u201d
He continued working his way between the people, gathering up his cables as he went.
\u201cAnd Mister Langston has some \u2026 Extra systems; They make him a fair bit more resistant to illness. The booster I gave him would probably kill most people.\u201d
Bug stepped back into the waiting room as Mister Station made his way past Luce and through the side door into the workshop, reeling in his cables, then step out of the workshop again, into the waiting room this time, with Luce trailing behind.
They heard his steps falter and slow as he walked out onto the platform, and watched as he stopped just outside the doors, looking first at Cy and Lumpy, and then at the railcart convoy.
\u201cBug?\u201d Mister Station asked, without turning around. \u201cWhen you said that \u2018your one\u2019 moves and mumbles, what exactly did you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luce could make sure that the brake wasn\u2019t on, but there wasn\u2019t much she or any of them could do to speed up their slow roll into the station. As soon as the reached the far end of the platform Bug and Cy were off and running towards the station building and Lumpy\u2019s slowly-moving form. \u201cDon\u2019t get too close if he\u2019s sick.\u201d Luce yelled\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[6],"tags":[],"fcn_genre":[],"fcn_fandom":[],"fcn_character":[],"fcn_content_warning":[],"class_list":["post-219","fcn_chapter","type-fcn_chapter","status-publish","hentry","category-easi-wesi-rail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fcn_chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_chapter\/219\/revisions\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_genre?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_fandom","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_fandom?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_character","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_character?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"fcn_content_warning","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hoarde.net\/scribblings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fcn_content_warning?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}