Chapter 4

I looked at the stack of papers over and over again, fighting the need to sleep as the light of the train faded. Someone had managed to install electricity on the train, so this was more like a dorm then camping in a car, for me. The bottom article told me answers to questions, but raised even more as the light . It was a weird bit from some Buddhist magazine from the 70's:

"Reincarnation, possibly one of the oldest ideas of Buddhism, has spread to places beyond our religion. Disappearing students at Miami University have created a legend.Our subscribers inform us that these abducted alumni are those selected for reincarnation."

I stopped there and ran down to the dining car to show Andre. "Is this why I'm here?" I demanded. He said nothing, but the others near him left, as if it was time to Andre to tell me someone had died-well, I had, but that was beside the point. He put a hand on my shoulder and walked me back to my train car.
He paused, then sat down and spoke. "You know George Bush? the old US president?"
I raised an eyebrow and nodded.
"Our fault. We took this guy, some failing student here about 70 years back. We thought he was okay, turns out, he wasn't. Proved it once he got turned-the war, the ugly wife, the political choice.... "
"Turned? I asked.
"Killed. Reincarnated. Whatever. Basically, we wanted your hot girlfriend to be an actual success...but our calculations were incorrect, and you were the one to cross the tracks and get picked up by us."
I lowered my brow. He was serious.
"but you're keeping me here anyway?"
"Uh....pretty much."He shrugged. "But we've never been able to get anyone back. Even if we wanted to."
"Do you?"
He shrugged again, but I had never seen him so indecisive. I always thought leaders like himself always knew what they were doing. I guess I was wrong. He stood up as someone else entered. "Sir, we're about a mile from the grounds."He stammered. Andre grinned. "Fantastic." He turned to me. "We're getting you off in about an hour. Be at the front of the car." He commanded. I nodded, at this point it was a bad idea to disagree, mostly because of the foreshadowing that I was going to be important. After all, they wouldn't keep me here just to keep me here....would they?

I ran to the caboose, and grasped the rail on the edge.The people didn't seem to notice there was a train with several "dead"passengers.