Young Writers Society

Southern France sped past them. They weren't going to stop now. The incident in Paris was a sign of how close to death they had come. The four had practically felt the cold iron touch of Death's scythe on their bare skin. Tom stared half in a dream at the landscapes they were passing. Every city they passed, the scene was pretty much the same, people packing up and heading away, the army setting up defences, and in some locations, like in any state of anarchy, looting and pillaging. It had all happened here enough times. The Fall of Rome, the rise of Napoleonic France, World War One, World War Two. Now it was happening again, anarchy and fear were rising again. Europe had seen this enough for one lifetime, wasn't it time for this to end entirely? 

They had been experiencing the same sensation for days, ever since they had inhaled the first particle of that ominous gas. Tom couldn't believe this, the lizards who inhaled it didn't stand a chance, yet the four of them were still not dead. 

"When is this going to stop," muttered Tom in thought, studying his hands. 

"I don't know, and I don't like it," replied Ian concernedly, gazing at the geographical blurs out the window. 

"I feel even stranger," whispered Catherine, for once not being sarcastic. 

"How such?" asked Maria. 

"Like...I'm not sure but; it's like, I can almost feel every piece of matter in this train moving, no matter what or where it is, even the air," she replied in thought. 

"Well we could feel the air before, how is that different?" added Ian after a quick analysis of Catherine's words. 

"Every single particle," Catherine continued, "I can even feel them reacting with each other in the air, liquid, whatever," she made a guiding gesture with her hand slightly, and the water in a cup in front of her rocked in lapping waves. It was only vibrating gently with the movement of the train. Catherine gasped suddenly but silently, and raised her hand gently, still focusing on the cup. It hovered. Then she lost concentration, and the cup fell to the floor. 

Tom reached out to grab the cup, but before he could even touch it, it froze in mid-air and was still. Ian and Maria stared in disbelief, whilst Catherine examined her hands, whilst sweat coursed over her face. 

"But...how? This is against everything we've been raised to know!" stuttered Maria in shock. 

"Hang on though, I can't feel anything in this place except what I'm already aware of," said Tom in realization. 

"Anyway aside from all this I think it should come to an end soon," said Ian with hope. 

"You don't mean that, you believe we'll be stuck like this, for good," replied Tom looking up at him. 

"How did you-" stuttered Ian. Catherine and Maria stared at Tom in disbelief. 

"Well if you want to know anything else, I know that you're all worried about your families, as am I," he continued, "I also know that Maria got top grades from her exams," Tom said with a grin. 

"What?! We haven't even got our results yet!" she snapped, "Besides, you can't have known my answers, as you weren't there, and you don't have the mark scheme," concluded Maria triumphantly. 

"No, I don't have it in front of me, but a quick look at the Infrared waves going around the planet told me the mark schemes, and I quickly looked into your memory for your answers," Tom cleverly replied. 

"None of us even remember what we even wrote down as answers!" said Catherine hastily. 

"It's locked in the part of your brain you can't access," said Tom, "It will come back only if you summon the memory, oh and Catherine, you need more Calcium in your diet." he said to prove his point. 

"How do you know that?" Catherine snapped, but Tom didn't even need to open his mouth, he just projected his answer into her head: "Because I'm clever, does that sound familiar?". Catherine growled silently and was silenced. 

"Anyway..." Ian interrupted, "anyone want someone to eat? I could use a coffee and a sandwich," he continued hungrily. Maria glanced at him then looked at the table in front of them. Her eyes seemed to turn purple for a brief moment, and at the same time her red hair briefly shone, and a sandwich and a cup of coffee appeared in front of Ian. He gasped suddenly. 

"Who was that then?" he asked in a surprised state. 

"It was me," Maria replied. The four stared at each other in disbelief. Like the lizards, their evolution had somehow been modified or sped up, giving them what seemed the gifts of gods. 

* * *

Not much longer than an hour later, the train was climbing through the Alps, heading East. The golden sun sat behind the mountains, making the snow come ablaze in sparkling golden light. Clouds passed through the mountains and were shredded into red strips against the darkening sky, as the glittering snow capped mountains created an almost unearthly spectacle of the landscape. On either side of the valley, icy blue waterfalls cascaded magnificently into lush green valleys lined with grape vines and speckled with beautiful wooden lodges. Catherine opened her eyes slowly. The golden light pierced the deep sapphire pools that were her eyes. A soft fluttering could be heard, but there were no birds in here, but then the great thud on the roof of the train confirmed it. Further down the carriage, someone screamed. Others crawled under tables and seats. Some other frightened people pulled out pistols and knives, whilst staring concernedly up at the ceiling. Tom projected his thoughts into everyone's heads: 

They're here. 

Then Tom disappeared, and before any of the others could do or say anything, they suddenly were standing on the roof of the train. Three military helicopters hovered above the train, and they opened fire on the four. The bullets froze in mid-air, and they rotated round slowly, and whizzed as quickly as they had been fired back at the helicopters. A few men were hit and fell from the helicopters. They went plunging hundreds of feet into the deep valley. Lord Venom sneered at the four and jumped from a helicopter, followed by a dozen more of his reptilian troops. 

"Why are you here, bronze bastard?" jested Catherine. 

"Because, female, you know of our weakness, therefore you must perish!" growled Lord Venom in reply. He clicked his fingers and the lizards rushed forward. Tom smiled slyly and waved his hand slightly. Three lizards flew to the left, then he made an opening gesture with his hands. The three reptiles were torn in half, and black blood soaked Lord Venom. The Lord stared in horror at Tom and the other three. 

"I know you now fear us." said Tom in Lord Venom's head. Ian then morphed into a Velociraptor and sprinted at the helicopters. He jumped with great agility and began to rip the weaponry and every living thing in the helicopter to shreds. Ian then jumped down from the helicopter as it drifted off and crashed into the side of a mountain. Catherine moved her hands in a few motions and ripped open a helicopter, and then threw the rotor blades at all the human troops, who immediately fell still and silent. The wreckage then flew towards five lizards and sent them into the valley below. Where they were crushed by the weight of the metal. But Catherine wasn't done, as the lizards weren't dead. She pulled great chunks of ice from the mountain side across the valley and slammed them into the fleeing lizards. Maria generated mechatronic armour  and used it to bring down the last helicopter. She then generated a strange yet huge looking type of pistol, and it fired bullets with green tips at the last two lizards. Lord Venom managed to dodge them, but the other lizard was hit.

Like in Paris, this lizard's eyes went cloudy and his scales became brittle. Maria then handed tom a shotgun, where he loaded it and blasted the squirming lizard's head to pieces. Lord Venom raised his arms and sprang forward. Ian slammed into the Lord and savagely bit his neck. Venom roared in pain as Catherine then used electricity from the cables overhead to electrocute Lord Venom. He then tried to get back up, but Tom focused all his brain power and fired at Lord Venom's mind. Dazed, screaming and blood soaked, Lord Venom gave one great burst from his wings and flew back towards France. The Reptiliad had at last suffered a defeat! With some quick thinking from Tom, the four were safely back inside the train. Everyone else in the carriage stared in amazement. But they did not shoot them, or run away. Instead they applauded, as the train crossed another border, into Austria.