Steamscape by D. Dalton

soldiers spun at the sounds behind them. Two of them started raising their rifles.
    “Come on!” Solindra grabbed at Theo’s arm and swung over the edge of the boxcar.
    Theo was already moving. Sparks from bullets pinged past him as he fell. Both of them crashed down onto the sandy soil below in a heap. He tried to snort out the sandy grains that flew into his nostrils.
    Solindra bounced to her feet and beat a fist against the padlock on the bar across the boxcar’s door. “Help me with this!”
    “What?” Theo leaned back, trying to see the soldiers on the top of the car. “They were going to kill you, crypter!”
    “I am not –”
    More shots kicked up sandy dust at their feet. Solindra and Theo slammed their chests against the boxcar, squeezing out of the line of fire, at least until the soldiers moved directly overhead.
    Theo growled. He glanced at the tracks. They could crawl under there and that would last until one of the soldiers climbed down. He craned his neck out toward the vast wasteland.
    He shook his head. That option would only make them into target practice.
    That vicious, survivalist corner of his mind started to caress his shoulders. Do what she wants. Let them out. His left hand found the lock picks in the hidden pocket along his sleeve. Let the soldiers have too many targets.
    Another bullet bounced off the sand next to his feet. Theo dropped his hand away from the picks. He wouldn’t have time anyway.
    Solindra clawed at the bar beside him. “Come on, come on!”
    More gunshots retorted, but no extra craters opened at their feet. Theo, with his back still against the boxcar, looked up. He couldn’t see anything, but the acrid smell of gunpowder drifted down from above.
    A feral roar rolled down from the top of the car. “The prisoners! They’re escaping like we did.” He grabbed her arm. “Run!”
    “Cylinder!”
    Solindra and Theo whirled. The young man stared. A woman, wearing trousers, had just appeared like a ghost. Thick, long black hair curled in a crowning braid around her bronze face.
    “Drina!” Solindra broke into a smile.
    “Where…?” The question died on Theo’s lips.
    “Get down!” Drina pressed down on Solindra’s shoulder. “How did you escape?”
    A Codic soldier crashed down from the boxcar roof. His skull cracked open on the car as he rebounded off the metal. Above, the shouts of the escaping prisoners roared louder.
    “Like that,” Solindra replied. They saw the flashing shadows as the escapees leapt onto the next car of prisoners, pushing back against the few remaining soldiers. The guards fired their guns, but they were too few to stop the tide of prisoners.
    Drina put a hand on Solindra’s back and pointed toward the emergency dinghy. “Run!”
    Theo wiped the sweat from his forehead and jumped after them. The dark-haired woman paralyzed him with a look. He froze, unable to move. It was such a look of controlled, even calm, hunger. He gulped and felt like a fly caught in a web, just watching the approaching spider, unable to do anything but squirm deeper into the net. His mouth dried.
    Then she turned away from him and ran after Solindra. The Killing Train erupted with more people as the first escapees fished up the prisoners from the next car’s top-hatch.
    Theo lurched into motion. He weaved around a falling Steampower soldier. The boxcar roofs swelled with sudden overcrowding and shouts louder than thunder peals.
    He charged straight toward the dinghy, gaining on Solindra.
    ***
    Ahead in the dinghy, Jing easily picked out Solindra’s fiery hair. He breathed out in relief, but kept his eyes trained on the front of the train, down the shaft of his steam rifle. The weapon’s hose was plugged into the dinghy’s boilerbox, and it was better suited for night shooting, since it had no loud retort or revealing flash.
    It fired bundles of long, thick needles at once, each dart equipped with fins to stabilize its flight.
    He squeezed the trigger.
    The two