I Choose the Skills Everyone Else Rejects

The amber light turned red.

The railway attendant stared at her terminal, then touched the badge fixed to her uniform.

"Holt, Wasteland Rail Marshal. Coach Eleven to central control. Unauthorized personnel confirmed near the forward connection."

Static answered.

She tried a second channel.

"Rear security to Crown escort."

A voice broke through for less than a second.

"—multiple breaches near Car Two. Protect the—"

Gunfire drowned out the rest.

The connection died.

Nate looked toward the front of the train. Ethan and Mara were nine cars ahead, surrounded by most of the guards.

Holt lowered the communicator.

"The Crown section is under attack."

Questions rose throughout the carriage.

"Who is attacking them?"

"Can the train still reach the capital?"

"Are we safe back here?"

Holt drew the compact sidearm from her belt.

"Secure your restraints and keep the aisle clear."

A cadet near the front stood halfway from his seat.

"My Class is Shield Bearer. I can help."

Holt looked at the silver band around his wrist.

"Have you formed your First Circuit?"

"No, but—"

"Then you have one Skill you awakened this week and no combat experience. Sit down."

The cadet obeyed.

Holt returned to the access panel and deployed the security drone. The forward door opened a few centimetres, allowing the machine to slip into the connection between Coaches Ten and Eleven.

Its feed appeared on her terminal.

The false technician had left his tool case beside the coupling controls. A black cable ran from the open case into the mechanism beneath the floor. Inside, a small device pulsed with amber light.

"Remote override," Holt said.

"Can you disconnect it?" Nate asked.

"Possibly, if it isn’t armed."

The carriage shifted beneath his feet.

Nate felt the front of the train pull forward while Coach Eleven followed a fraction too late. The two sections were still connected, but they were no longer moving as a single structure.

Holt noticed his expression.

"What?"

"The pull changed."

Before she could answer, the emergency alarm sounded.

The train braked hard.

Nate loosened his knees and leaned into the restraint before the force reached him. Milo was less prepared. His chest struck the belt, and one of the cases trapped between his legs slid forward.

A reinforced storage rack tore loose above the aisle.

Several bags fell with it.

Milo raised both arms.

Energy spread unevenly across his shoulders as the rack struck him. His seat frame bent, and his elbows buckled under the weight.

Nate unfastened his restraint and pushed against the metal. Two nearby cadets joined him, and together they forced the rack away from Milo and the passenger beneath it.

Blood ran from Milo’s nose.

"Are you hurt?" Nate asked.

"My arms still work."

His voice shook as he tested them.

Across the aisle, Iris had already moved toward a girl who had struck her forehead against the seat ahead.

"Keep your head still," she said. "Look at me. Do you know where you are?"

The carriage lurched again.

Holt remained near the forward door, watching two locking pins withdraw from the coupling on the drone feed.

She opened a lower compartment and pulled out a red mechanical lever.

"Calder, help me."

Nate reached her.

"If those pins release, the rear coaches separate from the engine," Holt said. "Pull when I do."

They gripped the lever.

The mechanism barely moved.

Nate lowered his stance and allowed the effort to travel from his planted foot through his knee and hip. He brought his weight into the pull rather than relying only on his arms.

The lever shifted several centimetres.

Holt glanced at him, then reset her grip.

"Again."

The final locking pin began to return.

The device inside the tool case flashed white.

Holt released the lever and dragged Nate down.

The blast struck through the coupling housing.

The forward doors bent inward. Heat and fragments of metal crossed the narrow passage, while the impact threw Nate against the floor.

A high ringing filled his ears.

Through the window, Coach Ten moved away from them.

The distance widened rapidly as the engine and the entire front section disappeared into the mist, carrying Ethan, Mara and most of the train’s security with it.

Coach Eleven continued along the track with Coach Twelve still attached behind it.

The alarm changed.

FORWARD CONNECTION LOST

Holt pushed herself upright. Blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow, but she went directly to the emergency brake.

The handle moved without resistance.

A warning appeared across the panel.

BRAKE PRESSURE UNAVAILABLE

The track descended between two rocky hills.

Their speed increased.

Holt removed a heavy metal bar from the floor compartment and forced it into the manual brake socket.

"Return to your seats," she ordered.

Nate remained nearby.

"We’re still accelerating."

"I’m aware."

She turned the bar.

A stable current of energy ran beneath the skin of her arms and shoulders. The metal mechanism resisted, but Holt forced it around another quarter turn.

The brakes screamed beneath the carriage.

Their speed dropped slightly.

Nate had never seen a completed Circuit used at such close range. Holt’s energy travelled through her body in a controlled pattern, making the circulation of every cadet in the coach seem crude.

The track ahead divided.

A red signal stood beside the junction.

As the coaches approached, the points shifted.

Someone had redirected them onto an abandoned branch line.

"Holt."

She followed his gaze.

The old rails curved toward the forest, half buried beneath grey vegetation and fallen branches.

Holt abandoned the manual brake.

"Lower your heads and protect your necks!"

Coach Eleven struck the junction.

The carriage jumped sideways as metal tore beneath it. The window beside Nate burst inward, forcing him to cover his face while the coach left the rails.

Seats ripped from the floor.

Passengers struck the walls and one another.

Nate felt his body rotate before the side of the carriage slammed into the ground.

His restraint held.

For several seconds, the only sound he understood was the creaking of damaged metal.

Then people began calling for help.

Nate released his belt and dropped against the broken window. Pain ran through his shoulder, and a shallow cut burned across his cheek.

Milo lay trapped beneath two damaged seats.

Iris was still moving. She crawled toward an unconscious passenger with one sleeve already torn into strips.

Holt stood near the rear door, one hand pressed against her side.

"Anyone who can walk, help the injured," she said. "Stay away from the outer walls."

Three impacts struck the roof.

Small metal devices attached themselves to the carriage.

Their lights turned green.

Holt’s face changed.

"Move!"

The charges detonated.

Sections of the emergency doors blew inward, filling the coach with smoke and fragments of insulation.

Armed figures entered through both ends.

Their equipment came from different manufacturers, and no national insignia appeared on their armour. Short rifles had been chosen for the narrow interior of the train.

Mercenaries.

The first cadet was shot before he finished standing.

The Shield Bearer from earlier raised both hands. A pale barrier formed across the aisle, but the next round broke through it and threw him over two rows of seats.

His head struck the wall.

The other cadets struggled with restraints, fallen luggage and Skills they had never used outside training.

Holt fired twice.

One mercenary dropped near the rear entrance.

She crossed the ruined aisle before the others corrected their aim. Her shoulder drove into a second attacker hard enough to lift him from the floor. She took his rifle, fired into the smoke and forced the nearest group back through the doorway.

A man entered behind them with a narrow blade in one hand.

A completed pattern of energy covered his arms.

First Circuit.

He watched Holt move.

"You aren’t listed on the passenger manifest."

"Neither are you."

The mercenary threw a black cylinder into the aisle.

Holt tried to retreat.

The device opened before she could escape its range. Dark lines spread across the floor and climbed the damaged seats.

The energy in Holt’s arms flickered.

Her Circuit broke apart.

She fell to one knee.

The mercenary leader reached her before she recovered. His blade struck her forearm guard, slid across the reinforced surface and cut into her side.

Holt fired into his chest.

A plate beneath his coat absorbed the round.

Nate pulled Iris behind an overturned row of seats.

"What do we do?" she asked.

He looked toward Milo.

The Burden Bearer had pushed one seat away from his body, but his left ankle bent at the wrong angle when he tried to stand.

Gunfire struck the seats above them.

A mercenary’s communicator activated.

"Primary team has engaged the Crown targets. Rear cleanup proceeding."

The leader looked across the wrecked coach.

"Take the Awakened alive where possible. Kill anyone who slows you down."

The main force was fighting Ethan, Mara and the guards.

These mercenaries had been sent to remove the passengers left behind.

Nate crawled toward Milo.

"Can you put weight on it?"

Milo tried and nearly collapsed.

"With help."

Holt blocked another strike from the leader. Without her Circuit, each impact forced her farther back.

She looked across the coach and found Nate.

"Break the windows," she shouted. "Get into the forest!"

One mercenary turned toward her voice.

Holt caught him around the waist and drove both of them through the damaged rear doorway.

The First Circuit leader followed.

Nate grabbed an emergency hammer from the wall.

He struck the weakened window. Cracks spread across the remaining glass.

Milo drove his shoulder into it, using the weight of his body when his injured leg could not help.

The window broke outward.

Nate pushed Iris through first. Together, they dragged Milo after her.

Several cadets ran toward the same opening.

A burst of rifle fire struck two before they reached it.

Nate pulled himself outside.

Coach Eleven lay on its side beside the abandoned track. Coach Twelve had folded behind it, its rear half buried among the trees.

Flashes of energy burned through the distant mist where the front section had continued.

Ethan and Mara were still fighting for their lives somewhere ahead.

A shot struck the metal beside Nate’s head.

He ran.

Iris supported Milo from one side. Nate took the other, and the three of them disappeared between the trees while mercenaries shouted behind the wreck.

His lungs burned. Fear had tightened his body so badly that every step struck the ground too hard.

Nate forced his ankles to loosen.

His movement became quieter.

The ruined train vanished behind the forest.

A branch snapped somewhere behind them.

One of the mercenaries had followed their trail.

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