There were a few Archaics wounded but still alive lying outside the train. Chee volunteered to dispatch the remaining creatures. He took Dog and a Henry with wooden bullets and returned to the train about thirty minutes later, the same impassive expression still painted on his face.
Hollister felt nearly euphoric. It was a common condition among soldiers who experienced combat. He and those under his command had survived. Not only that, but they had inflicted heavy casualties on their enemy.
And with Monkey Pete’s new device and the Ass-Kicker, he had a plan. It would take a little more of Monkey Pete’s genius and it would require a lot of luck. But it just might turn the tide.
It was early morning, and none of them had slept. They sat in the main car at the table, with the littered remains of Monkey Pete’s pancakes and coffee. Hollister was busy making sketches on sheets of paper.
The train Pinkerton had outfitted was full of machines, machine parts, and tools and loaded down with weapons. Monkey Pete had attached Gatling guns and hoses that shot holy water, and he’d extended the range and power of the train through his modifications of the engine in ways Jonas would never understand. The train gave them a huge tactical advantage. The problem was, there was no way to get the train to the Clady mine. The grade was too steep. Not to mention the lack of tracks.
Hollister had thought about it for a while and decided that the best thing to do was to send part of the train to the mine.
“Shaniah, can Demeter pull a wagon?” Hollister asked.
“Yes, why?” she answered.
“Pete, you don’t happen to have a small wagon on board the train, do you?” Hollister was crossing his fingers here.
“No, sir, I don’t reckon…” he started to say, and Hollister’s heart sank. But then he noticed Pete was getting that dreamy look in his eyes.
Pete smacked the table with his hand. “I ain’t got ‘wheels’ like wagon wheels or anything like that, but I got two extra flywheels in my supply car. Carry ’em as spares in case somethin’ goes wrong with the engine. I could rig those into a cart pretty easy.”
Hollister wanted to kiss the little guy.
“What is your plan, sir?” Chee asked. He was always so quiet, even when Hollister could tell he had strong opinions about something. When this was over. If they survived, he was going to have to work on getting Chee to loosen up a little bit.
“When the Archaics attacked us last night, and when they stormed the train in Absolution, I think it showed this train is our best tactical asset. They cut down or pushed over a few trees and they’ve got us boxed in here, but we still fought them off. Almost two hundred of them,” he said.
He held up his sketch to show the others. Chee and Shaniah couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but Pete got it right away.
“So if we can’t get them to the train…” Hollister said.
“You’re going to take the train to them!” Pete said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.