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Prologue: 80 years earlier1,498 words
Chapter 1: the Nightmare Begins2,024 words
Chapter 2: Fear and Trembling1,392 words
Chapter 3: A Nightmare on Sodor1,048 words
Chapter 4: a Gateway to the Past1,675 words
Chapter 5: Agony of the Damned1,588 words
Chapter 6: of Gods and Daemons: the Battle of Brendam1,475 words
Epilogue: Legacy of Evil315 words
Credits236 words

Chapter 5: Agony of the Damned

It was very late in the day at Knapford station, and Azure Dawn was exhausted. It had been a very long day at the archives, and everything had been running late. She was looking forward to heading home and spending some time with her husband and son. Luckily, they had both agreed to join her on the platform for the journey home.

She shivered despite her coat. Was it suddenly colder than usual? She went over to the cafe serving hatch to get a hot drink to warm herself up.

"Hello!" said Mr Blakely, who ran a small cafe stand on the platform. "What can I get you today?"

"A latte would do fine. Not too much milk, if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course, ma'am. One latte, coming right up."

A few minutes later, the hot drink was ready, and Azure Dawn headed over to the platform edge, where she saw her son waiting for her.

"Hey mom!" he called. "Chilly night, eh?"

"It's oddly cold for October," Azure Dawn admitted, before seeing a man with greyish skin and blue hair and dressed in a business suit join them. This fellow was Pound Stamp, or Patrick Stemp to use his real name.

"Hello dear," he said to Azure Dawn. "And how's our little railway worker?"

"We had a long day, and a lot of strange stuff's been going on lately," First Base admitted. "But traffic should hopefully calm down a bit into November."

As they looked down the platform, Gordon steamed into the station pulling a rake of perfectly preserved coaches, made of teak and immaculately presented. The family always liked to travel in the brake coach at the rear of the formation, normally in the rear compartment. Once the train had stopped, Azure Dawn opened the door and they got onboard, shutting the door behind them and taking their seats.

"I assume you'll want the window?" Pound Stamp asked First Base.

"Sure thing," First Base replied, when suddenly his phone went. "Hello?"

"First Base, where are you?" said the panicked voice of Luster Dawn.

"I'm on the train with my parents, waiting to head home. Why?"

"You need to get off the train and as far away from the station as possible. Timothy is after you!"

"Who?" First Base was confused. "You mean the ghost engine?"

"The red engine is Timothy! He isn't after Thomas, he's after you!"

"What? Why? What have I done to him?"

"Remember how Azure Dawn said her grandfather dying in the crash? Her grandfather was the old controller who abused the engines and overworked them. It's the very reason that Timothy did what he did!"

First Base went pale. He realised what this all meant now. "I'm his great grandson."

"Correct! And now he wants to wipe out all surviving members of his family. You need to get out of there!"

"Is everything OK, sweetie?" Azure Dawn asked.

"I'll call you back, OK?" First Base said, ending the call. "Mom, we have to get off the train now."

"Why?" Pound Stamp asked. "We just got on!"

"Luster Dawn just warned me that there's an engine out there who wants to kill us!"

"That's ridiculous!" Pound Stamp snorted. "I think you may have been listening to too many scary stor-"

He was interrupted by a high pitched Collett whistle, coming from the Tidmouth end of the station. First Base stuck his head out of the window to see what was going on. He face went even paler as he saw Timothy charge out of the darkness, his safety valve blowing off as he approached.

"There you are," he said. "Now kindly remain there whilst I kill you. It's time we ended this."

First Base pulled his head back in. "We have to go, now!" he shouted. "The engine's here!"

Neither adult wasted any time in piling out of the compartment and onto the station concourse, sprinting as far away from the train as they could as Timothy approached. Only seconds later, Timothy collided with the train with a bang, and reduced the rear coach to matchwood, splinters and chunks of metal flying through the air as the coach disintegrated.

First Base looked up to see if anybody was hurt. Luckily, most of the rubble had been thrown upwards by the impact, and simply fell downwards onto Timothy's boiler and running board.

Timothy began to reverse and look over, as if going in again, but then saw the family, looked over, and smiled. "There you are," he said. "I have the entire family together. I can get rid of your cursed bloodline all at once, and my soul can finally be free."

"Ever heard the phrase 'don't blame the sons for the sins of the father'?" Azure Dawn asked.

"Indeed I have. But you're his granddaughter, so you don't count." Timothy began backing up into the night, laughing maniacally. "I shall destroy both you and your spawn. You will suffer with me."

Sir Toppham Hatt emerged from his office to see the mess. The rest of the train had derailed from the force of the impact, and the other coaches, although structurally sound, were damaged. Gordon sat at the front of the train, dazed and surprised. "What happened?" he asked.

Sir Toppham Hatt wasted no time. He directed Gallus to call the fire brigade, whilst he called the ambulance services and began assisting those who could walk away from the platform.

"What happened?" he asked Azure Dawn, as he helped her up. Pound Stamp was already on his feet, assisting with the rescue efforts.

"An engine crashed into the back of our train," Azure Dawn replied. "Not just any engine. It was Timothy, and he wants me and my son gone from this world!"

Sir Toppham Hatt looked concerned. "So the legend is true," he said grimly. "It seems as though the evil of my BR predecessor continues to haunt the line nearly 80 years after his passing. I fear this may be the start."

"And the end," Azure Dawn replied. "He picked the wrong fight when he decided to target my family. He will pay for this."

All told, the accident resulted in over 40 people injured, but thankfully no fatalities. Unfortunately, the news of the disaster spread far and wide, and passenger numbers on the North Western began to drop once more. The line was at risk of bankruptcy.

The three drivers of the Ffarquhar branchline were understandably scared. First Base would only be near a railway as long as he had to be. Cherry Pie had taken to sleeping in another room facing away from the railway line. And Luster Dawn was sleeping with her parents after having woken up screaming from repeated nightmares.

The engines were very worried too. Thomas, Percy, and Toby sat talking as their fires were lit one cold, frosty morning.

"I spoke with Timothy," Thomas said. "I'm concerned for him. He seems to have some form of obsession with revenge. Whilst what the controller did was unnaceptable, he can't seem to let go of his desire for vengeance."

"How do we get to him?" asked Percy. "If anything, that incident at Knapford suggests he can't be saved, if he's prepared to kill innocent people to kill three people."

"Not to mention wipe out an entire family," Toby said grimly. "First Base is understandably fearful for his life, as is his mother. His father's working from home as well, citing 'personal issues' as the reason."

"I think trying not to get murdered by a psychotic tank engine fits the bill rather nicely," Thomas said. "I'll think of something, OK?"

"But," Percy said, "if it does go wrong and the line does close... we'll still have each other, right?"

"We will," Thomas replied. "But let's hope it doesn't come to that."

A few days passed, and Sir Toppham Hatt had been able to secure emergency funding from the Government to sort out the railway's financial problems. One afternoon, Cherry Pie, Luster Dawn, First Base, and Lantern Heart were sat outside the shed having lunch. Azure Dawn, for some reason, had insisted that she accompany her son wherever he went. It was understandable, really; she was terrified of losing him to a murderous tank engine.

"What time is it?" asked Cherry Pie.

First Base looked at his watch. "It's just past 2, on the 31st October... 2045." His face went pale. "Today is the 80th anniversary of Timothy's crash."

Luster Dawn immediately cottoned on. "And on the date of the accident, he runs again, as a warning to others. Plunging into the gap, shrieking like a lost soul."

"So that's what it means," Azure Dawn said quietly. "He will return tonight to try and finish us all off. Not on my watch."

"Mom! Please! Don't do anything stupid!" First Base begged.

"We have to stop him, or else he'll haunt the island for all eternity," she replied.

"Not to mention we have to save Starlight Glimmer's soul," Luster Dawn added. "Only by destroying Timothy and burying her body can her soul finally go to Heaven."

"There's a slight snag," Toby interjected. "We have no idea where Timothy is. In all likelihood, he'll appear out of nowhere and drag you all straight to Hell."

"No he won't," Thomas said. "Tonight, we put our plan into action."

Everybody acknowledged him or nodded soberly, and set off to prepare for their grisly work. They all readied themselves to stop Timothy or die trying as the Ffarquhar Branch Line made its final stand.

Author's Note:

Tomorrow night, the final battle. Can our heroes defeat the evil Timothy?

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