Free Final Dawn: Season 3 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) by Mike Kraus

speed, just as it had when it was under the control of the creatures previously.
     
    Marcus turned around and sat down on the floor of the locomotive, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “Damn… that’s a lot of them.”
     
    “These migrations seem to be getting much more common.” Rachel whispered. “I guess it’s time for them to all congregate at the nexus.”
     
    Marcus peeked back up at the window, watching how quickly they were traveling compared to the creatures. “Well that’s no problem. We’ll get there way before the creatures do, going this speed.”
     
    “True, but who’s to say that the AI’s going to wait for every creature to reach the nexus before launching its next step? What about creatures in the rest of the world? I’m not sure they’d be able to make it here, let alone in any reasonable time frame.”
     
    “That…” David turned around as well, trying to think of a good reply, “that’s a very good point. What about those creatures? Separated as they are from the nexus, they won’t be able to get here. So what’s going to happen to them?”
     
    “Couldn’t there be other places where they’re building these nexuses?” Marcus’s question was met with a quick shake of David’s head.
     
    “Definitely not. I would have seen them on the satellite scans. Whatever they’re doing, they decided on this particular location, luckily for us. I’d hate to be stuck trying to get across the Atlantic.”
     
    “So what happens to these things when the nexus is gone?” Marcus looked at Rachel, repeating David’s question.
     
    “Your guesses are as good as mine. They might self-destruct, try to re-form in swarms or who knows what else. It doesn’t really matter, though. Not now, anyway. We just have to destroy the AI before it does whatever next-level bullshit it’s trying to do. We can worry about mopping up the survivors afterward.”
     
    The answer Rachel gave was unsatisfying to the three of them, but with nothing better it was the only one they had. Getting back on their knees, the group resumed their watch of the creatures, occasionally pointing out a particularly disfigured or odd looking one as they tried to make light of the admittedly frightening situation. Though the creatures had no idea that Rachel, Marcus and David were on the train, if they found out they could easily derail the train and ensure that the three wouldn’t make it to the coast.
     
    The tracks continued along next to the road for several more minutes before branching away, back into the woods and fields as it had before. With the creatures long out of sight, the trio all breathed a collective sigh of relief and sat back down on the floor of the locomotive. Too filled with adrenaline, Rachel and David had no more interest in sleeping and instead busied themselves with organizing their supplies. David started to set up his computer and electronics that he had taken from the APC before it was destroyed while Marcus and Rachel took stock of their food and water and examined the controls of the train in detail.
     
    Marcus glanced over at David sitting on the floor, hunched over his computer as he was examining satellite imagery. “Hey David, where do you think we are?”
     
    “Hm?” David turned and looked at Marcus, distracted by what he was looking at.
     
    “Our location? Any ideas?”
     
    “Oh, sorry. These aren’t live images; there’s too much cloud cover for that.” David sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his temple as he tried to figure out where they were. “Somewhere in the Carolinas, I’d guess. I’m not exactly sure where this particular track goes, though.”
     
    Rachel leaned over David’s shoulder, taking a look at his computer. “That’s something we need to figure out soon. If this train was on its way to the gulf as we assumed, there could be a track changeover that we need to take to get there.”
     
    David nodded. “Two steps ahead of you there. I’m