– and then their weight was gone, jerked loose by a violent shock wave that almost spun Sal off his bike. The rest of the train roared by, barely inches away. Before it completely passed, he was already on the move again, climbing the far embankment.
Looking back, he could see a mess of busted meat and bone flopping along the tracks like wet laundry: twitching arms and legs and tumbled-out guts and cracked heads bouncing through the air like hairy coconuts.
Trancelike, Sal said, "Worst thing I ever saw… and also the best, you know? I sometimes wonder if there was even anybody alive on that train, you know? I think God sent that train! But more Xombies were still coming, still trying to catch me, and I had to move."
"Make your move," said Bobby impatiently, fidgeting.
Sal suddenly realized he had been thinking aloud for some time. Telling Bobby the whole story. The crisis had passed.
"In a second, dude," he said. "Don't you want to hear how I got to the factory compound? It was like a fortress, man-they almost didn't let me in! Or how, after all our work refitting this tub, the Navy crew was just going to bail and leave us behind? Leave us for the Xombies?"
"Make your move."
"All right, I will!" Sal slammed down his queen.
"Checkmate."
"I know!"