Gunslingers on the Runaway Train (Preview)

Chapter One

“Would you kindly pay attention before you get yourself trampled!”

Alice’s mother dragged her along, clasping her hand tightly as she did. Though Alice Adelberg was an older girl of thirteen, her mother often had to take her hand and pull her along to keep her nearby.

“Sorry, Ma!” she cried, embarrassed at how closely the wagon had come to striking her. She jumped out of the way to ensure her skirts were clear of the oxen as they stomped past.

Alice didn’t much care for oxen. They were large, burly brutes that didn’t care anything for anyone who was in their way. Horses, on the other hand, seemed far more polite.

Though she could hardly blame the animals and knew the blame truly fell on the driver, she still didn’t enjoy the snorting of the oxen. They kicked up dust on their way past, and she did her best to shield the dinner pail she held in her hand from the debris.

Her mother had placed a damp cloth over the top of the pail. Mrs. Adelberg insisted it was best to dampen the cloth beforehand, as that would keep it from fluttering in the breeze. Alice herself thought that the cloth would blow just the same, so she tried to keep her hand in place as much as she could.

She didn’t want to chance her father’s lunch getting dirty. Her father worked hard, and she wanted to make sure he had the very best food she could manage.

Of course, the meal was a simple one.

Her parents had moved her to the United States when she was only three years old. They were German immigrants, hoping to make a new life for themselves in America. Alice still remembered the trip ten years later—from the moment they climbed onto the ship back in Germany to the journey from New York to Nebraska that her parents had made in a covered wagon.

They’d put roots down in Sidney, where her father had gotten a job working at the Granger Mill. It was the largest employer in the entire territory, and her parents had been so proud when her father had gotten a position with the company.

Her mother worked hard to maintain their little home on the edge of town, each night walking with Alice through the street to the large factory.

It had been a nightly routine for the two of them for almost ten years, and with time it had become Alice’s favorite time of the day. Since her father worked the night shift, he slept throughout the morning, getting up when she and her mother had lunch around noon.

Then, she and her mother continued to work around their little house—or she would go to school—and after those things were done, they would make her father something to eat before taking it to him at the mill.

“Doesn’t Pa find it strange to eat lunch about the time we’re going to eat dinner?” she’d asked her mother.

After all, the two of them would often eat dinner themselves when they got back home, then her mother would set about doing her needlework and Alice would have some time to herself before bed.

She would go to sleep before her father got home, but every morning when she woke up, she would have to be extra quiet to keep from disturbing him as he slept in her parents’ bedroom.

“Stay out of the way!”

“This ain’t no place for a woman, let alone a child!”

“Watch out, there!”

More men called out to Mrs. Adelberg to mind where she and Alice were walking, and for the most part, her mother ignored them. The shouting came with the evening drop-off as well.

It seemed no matter which direction her mother took to get the two of them into the main building of the mill, there were men around who weren’t happy with them for being there. She didn’t understand why they were so impatient, and she kept close to her mother to ensure she didn’t get lost as they drew closer to the door.

“Stay close,” her mother warned, speaking over her shoulder as the two reached the main building.

The doors were large and heavy, and Mrs. Adelberg had to use both her hands and brace herself to pull the first of them open. She huffed as Alice would then scramble in front of her, slipping inside the large room of the mill.

Most of the work was done in the large yard around the back of the main building. Even with all the noise going in inside, Alice heard the men shouting to each other outside the place. She wondered how anyone knew what they were supposed to do, or who was shouting to whom with so much chaos going on.

Yet somehow, it seemed the men knew how to work together, and her father would often speak of the large amount of work they were able to get done each week.

“Ma’am, this is no place for a child!”

A gruff man stopped Alice’s mother, and Alice felt her heart leap to her throat.

Though she often told herself that they weren’t mean, the way the men spoke always frightened her. They were loud and they were blunt, and no one ever smiled. Most of the time they shouted to everyone, no matter who they were speaking to, and she didn’t like it.

Every interaction made her feel as though she was being scolded for something, and she didn’t know what to do with herself as a result. Her mother raised her to be agreeable, and she didn’t like feeling as though she was doing something wrong.

However, Alice didn’t know what to do with her mother’s response.

Instead of apologizing to the man or assuring him they would get out of the way, her mother stood tall, looking at the worker in his eye.

“We are here to give food to my husband,” she told the man. “My daughter is with me.”

“This isn’t the place for either of you,” the man said, doubling down. “There’s a lot in here that could hurt you.”

“We just need to speak with my husband,” her mother said. “If you could please step out of the way, he’s right over there.”

She tried to lean around him and point to where Alice’s father was working, but the man roughly pushed her arm back, causing Alice’s stomach to tie itself into a knot. She had never seen anyone be so rude to her mother before, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

She didn’t like it, not in the least.

“Sir!” Mrs. Adelberg cried. “Do not touch me!”

“Then you need to do as you’re told before we have a problem!”

“I do not know what you expect me to do,” Mrs. Adelberg shot back. “I am just trying to give my husband some food. You know how hard it is to go twelve hours working without a thing to eat? He needs his strength.”

Alice watched as her mother glared at the man in front of her. She wasn’t sure what to expect, and she wondered what her mother would do if the man laid a hand on her again. Then, a surprising thing happened.

“Rules are rules, ma’am,” the man said. “And we have to be careful about the people we’re letting back there. My boss gets real mad if I let anyone in.”

“I am sure your boss will be a lot angrier if you wind up having a worker unable to continue because he’s not been fed,” she replied, setting her jaw in a firm line as she spoke.

“Alright, here’s what I’m going to do,” the man said. “You send the girl back out front. There’s no way I’m letting her in here. Then you have all of three minutes to get in and back out of there.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Adelberg said, and Alice could hear the relief in her mother’s voice. Her own nerves flared when her mother then turned to her and told her to go outside. “You heard what the man said. I want you to go out to the big tree in front. Wait for me there.”

“But I wanted to go with you to see Pa,” she said, though she hadn’t finished speaking before her mother refused.

Shaking her head, Mrs. Adelberg nodded out the window.

“It’s not safe for you to be in there,” she said. “And we don’t want to cause trouble. You go wait for me, and I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

She gave her a small push, and Alice had no choice but to do as she was told. She walked toward the door, looking back over her shoulder as she did so. The man stepped to the side, and her mother disappeared into the next room.

Alice sighed as she walked out the front of the mill.

She didn’t like being sent outside, and she worried that they wouldn’t be able to keep bringing her father lunch. It didn’t make sense that they had been able to bring him his lunch every night for as long as they’d had, only to have it changed without warning.

After all, nothing bad had happened to them before, so what would change?

She slumped to the ground next to the trunk, looking at the building in front of her. She knew it was dangerous inside. It had been dangerous ever since her father had started working there. He hadn’t said anything about an accident, but that didn’t mean that nothing had happened.

“Stupid rules,” Alice muttered to herself.

She relished how freeing the statement was. She’d never have the courage to say such a thing in front of her mother, so she had to enjoy the sentiment while her mother was away.

Then Alice heard a popping sound.

She wasn’t sure what it was, though it appeared to have come from around the side of the building.

Alice looked around. A few other people seemed curious to know what the sound was, while other people didn’t seem to even notice it in the first place. Then again, there was quite a bit of noise on the bustling street.

It was early evening in Sidney, and plenty of people had just gotten off work for the day and were heading home. It was part of the reason why she enjoyed the walk in the evening with her mother. Alice liked seeing the other people going about their lives.

Though many of them didn’t seem to look too fondly on her or her mother, Alice still gave everyone she met a bright smile.

No one was paying her any mind, however, as people started running around the side of the mill, heading in the same direction that she’d heard the popping sounds coming from.

Acting on impulse, she took a few steps in the same direction.

Her mother had told her to stay near the tree, and it was best for her to do as she was told. However, she could get an idea of what was going on and not disobey her mother if she didn’t leave the tree entirely.

She took a few more steps, leaning to the side so she could see around the corner of the building. Though she could see men running about, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of the scene that unfolded in front of her.

The work yard lay behind the large building. There was an outer edge to that work yard off in the distance, and it seemed several men had gathered in that spot. She counted three of them, though two more who were making their way to the back of the building itself.

Alice felt confused.

Normally, she wouldn’t have given any of those men a second glance. But with the way she and her mother had been turned away from giving her father his lunch because they didn’t work there, she didn’t understand what those other men would be doing if they didn’t work at the mill, either.

It was easy to see that they weren’t employees. All the men who worked at the mill wore the same uniform. Those men were dressed like cowboys. And not just any cowboys, either.

Though she was some distance from them, Alice saw their kerchiefs pulled up around their noses. With their hats pulled low on their brows, she couldn’t even see their eyes, only a dark space where she knew their eyes would be.

The men seemed to be talking to each other. She could see that with the way they were gesturing to each other without shouting. The sight just made her feel suspicious, and she hoped her mother would be back soon.

Her mother had said she would be back in just a few minutes, and it felt longer than that, though she had no way of knowing how much time had passed.

Alice was about to give up on watching the strange men and go back to the tree when something new caught her eye.

It was a sixth man. He was separate from the other two groups she’d seen, and he appeared to be running toward the mill from somewhere out of town. Alice hadn’t seen exactly which direction he’d come from, but she knew the town well enough to know that there simply wasn’t anything out beyond that part of the mill.

If he was coming from that direction, he would have had to come from out of town. However, it wasn’t the direction from which he came that drew her attention so much as the fact that he was clearly holding a gun.

He was still some distance away from her, and he, too, had his face covered with a kerchief. But even at that distance, Alice could see the weapon in his hand. Her stomach clenched once again. There was no reason for anyone to be running a gun into the back of the mill.

She tried to be brave. Her mother often told her that she had to put her fears aside and be a brave girl, but it was difficult. She didn’t want to be suspicious or scared of those men, but something about them made her feel uneasy. She couldn’t get out of her mind the idea that they were doing something wrong, that that man with the gun was going to do something bad.

Her father was just a simple worker in the mill, but he could get hurt if those men were planning something bad. He might not be important enough for them to target him, but if they planned to hurt everyone in that building, then that meant her father—and her mother, even—were in danger.

They were both inside.

Alice had to act. She might have been the only person to notice those men, and she might be the only one who could warn the people inside.

She knew she might be wrong, and she silently prayed that nothing bad would happen as she started running for the mill. It wouldn’t do her any good to go back in through the front door.

That man who had turned them away before would most certainly turn her away again and not listen to anything she had to say. There wouldn’t be time for her to warn anyone who was truly in danger if she did that.

So she ran around the back of the mill and into the side entrance. That was against the rules, but it would be the fastest way for her to get inside and warn her parents about those suspicious men.

Alice had lost sight of three of them, but she could still see the three she’d spotted originally. They were still close to the back of the mill, which meant she could get into the side door without drawing their attention.

She was almost to the doorway, her heart thudding in her chest, when it happened.

At first, Alice wasn’t even sure what had transpired.

She’d just placed her hand on the doorknob when the air was suddenly hotter than she could imagine. A scorching wind blew into her, and she threw her arms up to shield her face as she was lifted from the ground and thrown backward.

At the same time, a deafening roar filled the air.

Alice didn’t even realize she was screaming until a kind woman pulled her close, wrapping her in a shawl and attempting to comfort her.

Black smoke rose into the air and flames belched from within the broken windows. People shouted to each other on the streets, and screams came from within the raging inferno that had been the mill just moments before.

Alice could hardly hear any of it, however, as she continued to scream and sob into the strange woman’s chest.

Her parents had been inside that mill when it exploded.

And she already knew they wouldn’t be making it out alive.

Chapter Two

Eight Years Later 

“Because you need to hurry, or we’re going to miss boarding.”

“How long until departure?”

“Last call for checked luggage!”

The world thrummed with life around her, and Alice did her best to blend in. At twenty-one years old, she was a young woman—and as such, she was finding it increasingly difficult to sneak aboard trains.

It wasn’t the first time she was trying to board a train as a passenger, and she hoped it would go better than the last time she’d tried.

Normally, she would pack her worn-out suitcase and carry it with her as she slipped onto the luggage car. Other times, she would manage to stow away with supplies that were being sent from one city to the next.

Ever since she had been orphaned at thirteen, she had fended for herself. At times, Alice managed to keep a roof over her head or feed herself by working for a rancher or a farmer. Other times, she earned cash by running errands or finding a job as a hired hand for a general store or mercantile.

Regardless of how she worked, she found it nearly impossible to save money for a train ticket. Alice hated taking things that didn’t belong to her, so she avoided stealing. There were times when she had become desperate enough to steal, but more often than not she would rather go hungry.

That day, however, things were different.

Alice was ready to make a fresh start, and the best way to do so would be to head West. She had heard tales from people who had gone to the other side of the country, and Alice had to admit, she liked what she heard.

“The West is a land of opportunity!” one man had said.

“It’s a place where you can make a name for yourself, no matter who you are!” another promised.

“You don’t have to be anyone. You can be a man, a woman, a former slave or an Indian, and you can make a life for yourself out there!” a third had told her.

She didn’t know how much of that was true, but Alice knew she wanted to experience it for herself.

She didn’t have a stable job or housing, and friends were even rarer. So, not much was keeping her in the area. When Mr. Freddie from the mercantile had told her that the train would be leaving for California that Friday, she’d decided it was time to finally go.

“You’ve been saying that with each train that leaves,” he’d teased her.

It wasn’t uncommon for him to give her the bread he couldn’t sell after a couple of days. She would often pay for the loaves by running an errand or two for him, and though she had gotten the impression that it was charity, she didn’t mind. It was kind of him to save the bread for her, and she needed to eat.

“I know, but I really mean it this time,” she said.

“How are you going to manage it?” he asked. “You’ve told me you only travel short distances because you have to sneak in with the luggage and such.”

“It’ll be different this time,” she told him with confidence. “Trust me. I’m not going to live like a street urchin forever.”

“I don’t doubt that,” the older man said. “But California is a long way from Nebraska. I don’t know how anyone could sneak onto a train and stay on for so long. You know I would get you a ticket if I had the means, but with how the shop’s been going lately, I just don’t.”

Alice shook her head. “I wouldn’t dream of taking a ticket from you even if you did buy it for me. You’ve been feeding me for years, Mr. Freddie. You’ve done more for me than most.”

“I give you the spare bread when I have it. That’s not nearly what I wish I could do,” he said.

“It’s more than what most of the world does,” she told him simply. “But things are going to be different out in California. Trust me.”

She had talked a lot about California and her dreams of going there for most of her remaining visits to the older man. Still, the goodbye she’d told him the night before had still been difficult. He was the closest thing she’d had to a friend since her parents had been killed, and she would miss him.

But as she walked back and forth on the train station platform, Alice felt she had made the right decision.

She had been living in Lincoln, Nebraska for the past two years, and it was time for a change. The town was getting too big for her taste, and she was tired of living on the streets. She wasn’t going to subject herself to life in a brothel, and it was starting to feel like that would be her only option in life if she wanted to have a real roof over her head.

As the people pushed past her on the platform, Alice felt just as invisible as she always did.

For years of her life, she had been a petty thief and a beggar, but few people had ever taken the time to even notice her. Not to mention, those who had been kind enough to pay her some mind hadn’t been able to help her much. It was time for her to make a change.

A man stood near the door of the train car, ticket puncher in hand. Alice eyed him carefully as she walked along, trying to gauge how she would get past him.

He was the one man who stood in her way. She could blend in easily enough with the other travelers while on the platform, then again when she was on board the train. But the fact that she had to get around the man with the hole puncher in his hand slowed her.

Once she was past him and on board, it would be easy.

She just had to get that far.

She knew better than to walk around the far side of the train. She blended in with the other passengers as she walked on the platform, but if she were to slip around the back, it would be obvious she was trying to find a way to sneak on board. But then, as she walked the length of three train cars and back again, she started to wonder if there was such a way for her to get into the train from that side.

The only option appeared to be through the windows. One could access the inside of the train from the top, but she had no way of getting on top of the train without drawing attention to herself. There was certainly no way to get in through the windows, either.

Alice debated her next move, walking along as she did. She was so distracted by the problem, she didn’t notice that she was drawing near to a gentleman standing with his back to her.

Without even realizing what she was doing, she walked right into the man.

“Oh! Excuse me,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.”

“Watch out! Who do you think—oh! I’m so sorry, ma’am. I hope you’re not harmed.”

The man had been annoyed with her at first, but his entire demeanor changed when he turned around and looked at her.

Alice was struck by how exotic he looked. His skin was dark and his eyes an even darker shade of brown. His hair was black and glossy, fairly shining in the sunlight. His smile was also immaculate, causing her heart to skip a beat when he directed it toward her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and I’m afraid it came back to haunt me.’

“Not at all,” he said quickly. “I apologize for being so rude. I thought it was my hired hand running into me for the tenth time this morning. You simply can’t hire good help anymore, can you?”

“I—I guess I don’t know,” she said with an awkward giggle.

“No harm done all the same,” he continued. “If I knew I was going to be bumped into by such a lovely blonde-haired, blue-eyed angel, I would have stood farther into the way to make it happen all the sooner.”

He gave her a charming smirk, and she blushed.

Alice realized the man was flirting with her, and she didn’t know what to do with herself. It was obvious the man had money of some kind. The way he was dressed was enough to show her that. But then, even if he wasn’t wealthy, it was still a strange thing for her to be flirted with.

Most of the men she passed didn’t give her a second glance. She often assumed it was because of the patches on her skirts or the way her hair was often in pigtails rather than braids.

“Again, it wasn’t my intention to run into you like that,” she said meekly. “I was just taken with looking at the train, that’s all.”

“Oh, is it your first time riding?” he asked.

“I—yes,” she lied.

She didn’t know why she didn’t tell him the truth. Perhaps he’d have more questions for her if she’d told him that she had been on trains quite a few times. She didn’t want to talk herself into a situation she couldn’t get back out of, but something about the stranger caught her eye.

She had been struck by his unusual features at first, but it hadn’t taken long speaking with him for her to notice that he had a train ticket poking out of the pocket of his shirt. Though a wave of guilt rose in her when she thought about taking the ticket, she couldn’t deny how obvious it was that the man was well-off.

It likely wouldn’t be anything for him to get a second ticket, while it was everything to her to be able to get a ticket at all.

“Well then,” he said with a wide grin. “I can’t blame you for being so taken with it. My name is Ernesto Gonzalez, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Alice Adelberg,” she said, offering him her hand.

“Beautiful. Swiss?” he asked.

“German,” she replied. “My parents brought me with them when they came to America.”

“And now you’re on your way to California. That’s the beauty of this place, isn’t it? A land of dreamers!” Ernesto cried out.

“Yes sir,” Alice said, though she wasn’t sure what she was agreeing with in particular.

“Are you going to San Francisco by chance?” the stranger pressed. “That’s where we’re heading.”

“I’m sorry, we?” she asked.

Alice didn’t much care who he was traveling with, but it was smart to keep the focus on him and what he was doing. She was still trying to figure out how to get that ticket out of his pocket, and she didn’t want him too focused on her as she solved that problem.

“Yes, me and my business partner,” Ernesto told her. “I’m waiting for him here, but that’s just the way of things with Isaac.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know him,” she said meekly.

“He’s my partner,” Ernesto said, and she wondered if he didn’t realize he’d just told her his relation to Isaac, but she didn’t point it out.

“And you’re both going to San Francisco,” she said. “That’s quite the trip for business.”

“Well, we have several hotels and such spread across the country,” Ernesto told her. “I don’t want to brag, but the whole reason we’re going is because we’re about to open a new hotel right in California. I believe it’s good business to be present when a new storefront is opening!”

“A hotel is a storefront?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.

“It’s business,” he said with a laugh. “But then, maybe things are different in Germany, I can’t say I know. I haven’t been there before.”

Alice wanted to tell him that she hadn’t been since she was only three years old, but she held her tongue. She had lost her accent, and she’d spent most of her life in Nebraska. But as long as the man was distracted, there was a better chance she could get the ticket from him.

“Perhaps one day you can open one of your hotels there,” she told him.