[ There's someone else here. There's someone else here. Sweat burns his eyes and the taste of smoke and ash is still in his mouth. There had been an explosion, one that would have certainly killed him, but he's awake. Alive.

The only reason he knows he hasn't died is the pain where his arm used to be. If he were dead, that wouldn't be there.

But it is. So, he's not dead and what a disappointment that is. All that time, all that pain and he's still alive, still --

Okay, he has to focus. Focus on the other voice, unfamiliar to his ears. ]

What?

[ Curtis blinks several times, clearing the red tinged haze from his eyes and tries to see who else is here. She's young, younger than Edgar even. Young and terrified looking.

Because of him. Curtis can't even imagine how he looks right now but it's obviously bad enough that she thinks he's here to assault her. ]

I'm not -- I'm not going to hurt you. And I don't want your money.

[ He doesn't even know what he'd do with it. Wave it one of the ministers's faces for access to the front of the train? Get someone to put his arm back on his body?
Pay to eat his weight in something that was fucking protein blocks? ]

I don't even know you. Why would I hurt you? I don't know you. I'm just --

[ Confused. This place, small and cramped as it might be, was too clean to be a section of the tail. Either someone in front had stowed him somewhere or this -- this was something completely different. ]

What are you doing here? I don't recognize you.