Vali eyed the site of catastrophe with curiosity. ‘Damn, that looks brutal.’ Vali idly thought as he approached. There were no tracks for the train to run on, so there was no conventional way for it to end up here. Though, he didn’t have to think twice over it to understand what had occurred. The maimed earth and the deep skid marks the train had leaved on the dirt as it crashed told what needed to be known already. The train had been going quite fast.

A few of the wagons were left standing up, unaffected by the crash. But the rest of them were either laying sideways on the ground in shambles or damaged in such a way Vali wasn’t sure if the passengers that used to be in them were still alive. The frontmost wagons looked worst of all. They had taken the brunt of the impact when it crashed. It was nothing short of a miracle that no fires had broken out.

The only unique thing about this group wasn’t their way of arrival, Vali realized. Groups of two people circled the crash site, actively keeping people away. At least one in each group held a piece of wood or metal, obviously intended to be used as a weapon. One of them caught Vali’s attention. It was a sharp-looking metal shard, one end held safely with a cloth wrap. It might have been a makeshift weapon, but he had no doubt it was lethal. On his way here, he hadn’t seen anyone who had a weapon. If any of them had it, they had hidden it quite nicely.

‘If it’s for defense, nothing to worry about. But if they made it for other reasons…’ After taking a long look at the wagons, he considered their numbers. He could make out some movement inside of the wagons, but most were gathered around in small circles that stuck close to the wagons. ‘Give or take, two dozen wagons. Even if 10 people in each of them survived, and they made an organized group… They have over a hundred people here. And that’s not counting the outsiders they might have recruited.’ He gazed at his bare feet. ‘Gonna be hard to run like this. Better be careful.’

His approach didn’t go unnoticed. One of the patrol groups approached him before he could get closer. They looked fidgety. It seemed like holding a weapon didn’t take away all their worries regarding strangers approaching them. ‘Hope they speak English, otherwise, this is going to be awkward.’ Vali spoke before they could. “Hey, this the group I keep hearing about? The one who’s gathering people?”

The guy without a weapon, a man who looked like he was in his late twenties, instantly perked up. “Ha! I won the bet, he speaks English!” The other guard, who looked to be in his thirties, responded with an annoyed grumble and rolled his eyes. “Sorry about that. You just won me one less night watch.” He kept speaking with a big grin as Vali listened with one brow raised. “Nah, that’s not us. We already have more than enough people to look after.” He stopped and gave Vali another look, inspecting him from head to toe. “Damn, you’re goddamn huge though. If you want to join, nobody would object. I think. We need some strong hands.”

Vali considered for a moment. He didn’t want to keep walking with his bare feet, so saying yes and joining them without accounting for the consequences seemed quite enticing. But he wasn’t dumb. Well, not that dumb.

Vali didn’t think it was too big of a deal. Especially in the short term, he thought sticking to a group was his best bet. That is if he managed it with his temper.

What concerned him were the long-term problems that could happen. He didn’t know how the relationship between this group and the one he kept hearing about was going to develop. Even if those two specific groups managed to get along, which was improbable, the existence of people from different countries and beliefs gathering in a single place made things more complicated. The longer this chaos lasted, the worse it would become. ‘Dispute is bound to happen as long as there are two separate groups. Simple as that.’

Taking Vali’s silence as hesitation, the man without a weapon started talking. “Look, I’m gonna be honest with you. It’s been a day since we ended up here with the train, and in that single day’s time, we argued a lot. About the future. We don’t think help’s gonna be here, at least not anytime soon.” He paused to turn around. “This junk of a train?” He smiled. “It might be one of the most valuable resources to survive in the coming future. We got lucky. Some cabinets had first aid supplies. The food and water might not be much, but it’s better than nothing. Asked a lot of people, can’t even find band-aid out there.” Turning back to Vali, he raised his hands defensively before continuing. “Of course, with so many people and so little to go around, we can only help our own people. Even then, I don’t need to tell you they will probably be used up in a short time. It’s still better than whoever you’re planning on joining.”

Vali grumbled internally at the man’s long rant. He opened his mouth, only to shut it instantly. He wanted to belittle the man for pointing out the obvious, but antagonizing the man now would gain him nothing. With furrowed brows and a sour face, he considered for a moment before talking. “I’m not sure if I’m convinced. I heard the group to the east got more to offer than you do.” He lied through his teeth. ‘Like I heard anything like that. But logic dictates if they can gather so many people, they must have something going for them.’ Hearing Vali’s response, the two men shifted uncomfortably. ‘Bullseye.’

“That might be partly true, but they have way too many people already. It’s going to be hard looking after so many no matter how much food they have.” They were trying to come up with counter-arguments, but Vali wasn’t aiming for a long argument that weighted what the two groups offered.

“Let’s make a deal then. Show me how well you guys are doing. Take me for a walk through your…” He cut off to swing a finger at the wreck. “… improvised base.” The two men looked at him suspiciously, but Vali had more to say. “Look, I’m searching for a good group to join. If what you say is true, that’s good. I will consider joining you. But if what you got here is a disorganized rag-tag bunch, I’ll probably starve to death out there.” Vali pointed at the wreck. “I either see for myself,” Pointing east, he paused half a second for dramatic effect. “Or I leave for the more reliable group. Think about it. I’m not asking for much, and I’m sure you guys will need someone strong like me.” Locking his arms, he waited for a response.

The weaponless guy scratched his chin, and after a second tried to answer. “I’m not sure…” Only to be cut short by the guy wielding the piece of metal.

“Bah, I’m bored just standing around anyways. Just stick close to us and it shouldn’t be a problem.” The weaponless man was surprised by his reaction. After mouthing off a ‘Whatever’ and shrugging, he agreed to it.

Turning around, he shouted to inform his group. “Yo Brian! We got a potential recruit! We’re going to show him around, get someone else for the patrol!”

A guy standing close to one of the unscathed wagons shouted back a short response. “Be quick!”

The two lead Vali to the closest wagon, which was the backmost one of the chain. It was standing sideways, but it looked relatively unscathed. The free-handed man gestured around as he talked. “We store our stuff in there. Got plenty of space for everything plus some more. We’re thinking of removing the seats and the like to make more room.” He gave Vali a smug smile before continuing. “Getting inside and going out is hard, but it also makes it hard to steal from. Some tried it. Tried.”

Vali couldn’t see the inside of it, as one windowed wall was against the ground, and the other one was looking up at the sky. The doors that went into the other wagons were stuck closed, and he doubted the emergency levers to open them worked after the crash. The only entrance seemed to be from the top where the passenger door now was. He wanted to check inside but doubted that they would let an outsider do that. And the man confirmed his thoughts with his next words. “Sorry, can’t let you in there. But it’s filled with food, water, medicine, and clothes.” He looked at Vali’s unfit clothes. “Though I don’t think there’s anything in there that can fit you. Man, are you over 7 feet tall?” Vali ignored the question.

As they kept walking, Vali saw that the link connecting to the next wagon had been broken to pieces. If it hadn’t been for that, more of them would be fallen over. “The next three are practically unscathed. If we squeeze a bit, almost everyone can fit in them to sleep. Crowded, but beats sleeping on grass.” Vali grimaced as he recalled how he had found himself using a rock as a pillow when he woke up.

This time, the man talked about what the people they were approaching were doing. “Miraculously, we have some order here. A single night stargazing was enough for us to start organizing and having people do some simple tasks. A few dozen of us gather anything usable we can find, like metal pieces scattered around…” He took a glance at his friend’s weapon. “… or small branches and dry leaves. Not many around for some reason though.” As he kept explaining, he waved at the people, some, in turn, waving back at him. “More of us went east. Past the other group, there’s a river that splits these plains from a forest. That’s the only water source in half a day’s distance we have found yet. Also, the forest seems to be the only source of food.” He exhaled, his eyes turning gloomy. “No hint of civilization yet.”

He gathered his spirits up pretty quickly after that. And so, his explanations about the group continued. The rest of the wagons were left unused for now, as the man explained. He kept talking about how they could be used for different purposes if the opportunity arose, but by then Vali had lost interest. He was starting to sound like a door-to-door salesman to Vali. Contrary to him, the man holding the weapon kept quiet, much to Vali’s relief.

They were close to the last wreck when Vali cut the man’s talk about the crash and spoke while pointing to a destroyed wagon. “Wow, that one looks bad. Mind if I check in there?”

The two men froze on the spot. Vali turned to look at their faces and saw that they were filled with pain. Vali knew he stepped on a mine, but he didn’t want to back down. He waited for their response, and then the man who had kept quiet until now spoke with a somber tone. “That’s where we moved the dead.” He shut his eyes and continued. “Thirty-four of them.” His free hand moved to his eyes, rubbing away the small tears that were forming. “There’s… kids in there.”

The talkative man stepped up to him, wrapping his arms around him in a bear hug. After a moment of silence, he spoke in a low tone. “We’ll give them a proper burial soon. Hang in there man.”

Vali watched in silence as they gathered themselves together. “I’m going to take a break.” Suddenly declaring, the armed guard walked away with shaky steps, leaving Vali with the talkative man. Both watched him disappear behind without a wreck, but the two men had different expressions on their faces.

Vali was the one to break the silence. “A lot of people are going to die here, no doubt. Probably Thousands. If he’s like this after a few dozen, I don’t know what he’s going to do in the future.” His words sounded unnaturally cold even to himself.

The other man turned to Vali with eyes filled with a mix of pity and anger. Yet when he spoke, his tone held no mirth. “I know it's going to be hard for him.” He directed his gaze at the wagon they were using as a mass grave. “He was the only one who got out of that wreck without a scratch. Just yesterday, so many people died in his hands. Even though he did all he could. But I have no doubt he’s going to give his all trying to keep everyone alive again, no matter how many times it happens. He didn’t lose any hope until the last person.”

With clenched fists, he kept talking. His last words made Vali feel like he had swallowed rusty nails. “How many dead people have you carried in your arms without breaking?”