There's something sad about getting used to a city like Las Vegas. Even worse is just wanting to get out of the cold.
"Last call for Las Vegas, Nevada. We shall depart for Phoenix, Arizona in five minutes."
The left half of my body hung outside with the cold, frosty air of Vegas that was hued by the colorful afterglow of the neon sprayed sky, and the coat I wore couldn't protect me from the occasional snowflake blinking its way into my eyes. Only the very last dribbles of passengers who'd bought tickets onsite came in at the bare bones before takeoff, and were coming in, pushing departure up to its lasts straws.
"I know you can hear me, human! Look me in the eye if you have a shred of courage!"
The bastards.
"Miss, if you have any complaints about the Gaian establishment, you can send an email at our official website, or send a call to our customer service department to voice your concerns." Said stock response #45.
With a loud snort, the blubber-bloated equine shuffled into my line of sight down the train, waggling a blood-painted sign right in my face.
"Pathetic! You just can't admit you're a just another little cog in a factory that enjoys butchering animals, when here we could be living perfectly normal lives off of plants!"
"I'm sorry, miss. I'm not the area that entices that kind of request." Response #15. Christ almighty, please tell me at least a hundred seconds've passed...
"You people are all alike! Animals are the births of evolution across the world, and you all...look at me!!!" She stepped forward as far as she could without touching the train, bending over her behemoth of a belly enough that she could glare down at me. "How would you feel if I went around tearing monkeys apart to eat them?!"
"Thank you, have a nice day." #1.
"Doors are closing."
Francine's belligerent ranting was drowned out by the screams of joy cheering in my mind as I slinked back into the coach, the door sliding shut on their own. Francine didn't seem to be in enough of the hitchhiking mood to chase me down, either, but a can of soda was promptly smashed along the window, coating the glass in cola.
"Ladies and Gentleman aboard The Gaian Express, we are about to take off from Las Vegas, Nevada, at 3:08 AM, the date being December twelfth. The current weather at Gaia 2.0 is snowy, expected to intensify as the week goes on, but we are still scheduled to arrive on time at 1:30 AM on the fourteenth, without any perceived intrusions.
"Our next stop is at Phoenix, Arizona, expected to arrive at 7 AM, with the inclusion of time zones. Until then, we wish you a pleasant trip on board, and welcome you to the facilities listed on the pamphlets that can be found your nightstands. Thank you for riding us, and we hope you enjoy your stay."
Then the whistle blew. Far down somewhere along the track, the shrill blare of an airhorn echoed above all the skyscraping casinos, swimming for many miles over the empty desert land. Without the cars lurching against one another, the wheels began turning. The grains of the station's concrete slowly shifted towards the left, with fives of miles per hour being fueled into our speed along the track, till we'd left the station's threshold with enough speed that the ties of the tracks were flickering.
Vibrant stripes of light rippled along the floor as the windows scanned past the native marques and casinos, but the colors eased off in width and abundance as we came closer to the city's boundaries. The towering skyscrapers and resorts trunked off into more modest hotels, and they themselves faded into little tourist traps and gift shops. It was only till we'd sped past one last gambling house that we'd chugged clean out of the city with one last blare of the whistle, abandoning the bright lights to pitch black that swallowed miles ahead of the snow-covered desert.
I didn't have much of a chance to keep looking out window, though, when the intercom's red light buzzed on.
"Engine to Cabin car 1, does anybody read me?
I pressed the response button. "Morning, Miss Carmine. Nathan at Door A!"
"Morning to you, too Nathan. Any trouble down at the station?"
"Well, aside from the usual run in with Francine, we should be good to go."
She gave an exasperated sigh, one so tired I could almost see her holding a palm along her face, but the sound came back with the ruffling of some papers. "Anyways, I was calling about tonight's schedule, which you'd probably figured out already."
That I had. "What'd you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking that until we get to Arizona..."
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