#Uman and Dim Railway

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.11 Thunder and Awe

Other Chapters:

The express runs several times per day on the Uman and Din. Guinevere is the only engine to pull it, as none of the others are strong enough. The Express carries passengers from the ships at Uman to the junction at Din, where it connects with the other railway before returning with people for the great liners.

It is one of the railway's most important trains, and Guinevere takes great pride in being not only on time but early every run.

Which made all the engines concerned one Tuesday when the clock struck 5 till, and the Express was not yet in sight.

Avon waited anxiously at the platform, her train a guaranteed connection with the express. "This isn't normal. Abbey is always here by now."

Screech lazily opened an eye from the siding she was sitting in. "The express is not late yet. She probably had to stop for sheep on the line."

Avon glared, "You know it's more than that. You'd sooner praise the other railway than she would allow herself to be late."

Screech sighed. "If she is not here on time, I will go hunt for her myself."

Avon did not look reassured at this but nodded. Shortly a whistle blew in the distance and Avon finally relaxed.

Screech tensed.

Avon glanced over, "What's wrong Scree.."

She was interrupted by Screech blasting her whistle twice and shooting off down the line toward the express.

"Wha..."

Screech thundered a command to the signalman as she shot down the line and out of sight around the bend.

Avon waited anxiously for several minutes. Finally, Screech's whistle sounded as she rounded the bend. As she came into view, it became clear she was pulling both Glastonbury Abbey and the Express while running tender first. She halted the train just as the clock struck time.

The star class was panting tiredly, both crews immediately hopped out and began checking her over.

"Thank you." She said quietly, "I was afraid we weren't gonna make it." She winced as her driver touched a bent piece of the motion.

Gwyn shook his head, " It's no good, your motion is shot with this rod, even if the shop starts now, they won't be finished till tomorrow, and that's if they work through the night.

"But...the Express...." For the first time since Screech had met her, the star seemed utterly lost.

Her driver shook his head, "I'm sorry old girl, even if we had the part already made, we couldn't fit it in time for the return trip. I hate cancelling service, but we don't have anyone to pull it."

Freda slowly stood from beside the stricken express, and dusted her hands off as she regarded Screech thoughtfully, "Actually...we just might at that."

The crews followed her gaze to the bemused giant.

"You are aware I am a goods engine?"

"One that pulled passengers." Freda challenged.

"My sisters more than I did. I wasn't well-liked by passengers even then." Screech confirmed as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Screech, please...," Abbey pleaded.

Screech met her gaze for a long moment then, "Oh blast it all! Alright, I'll pull the train."

The crews and engines broke out in cheers

Her eyes rolled and tendrils shot out, lifting Abbey just off the rails, sans tender.

"Avon be a dear and arrange my coaches while I run our little wounded bird to the shop."

Abbey glanced down bemused, "You know you could have just rolled me there."

"And risk further damage? I think not. I expect you to be on the morning express, and I will be most upset if you are not."

Abbey smirked, "love you too."

Screech glared.

...

Screech returned from the workshop to find her coaches in order, with passengers waiting on the platform.

The sky had darkened over the sea, lightning crackling over the waves as the storm advanced towards the coast.

"So much for light showers today," Frefa said grimly.

"Are you up to this run Lass?" Gywn asked as he looked over the waves. "That storm looks like it's gonna be a right devil."

"Then you have the right engine," Screech said resolutely before turning to the waiting passengers.

"If you would all be so kind as to find your seats," she purred dangerously, "I would be most upset if we were delayed in our departure."

The passengers fled into the coaches as the whisper cackled.

 She was quickly coupled to the train and the Gwyn fit the express code to her lamp irons, buffeted by the wind as he did so.

"I still do not understand how you do that," Screech grumbled.

Gwyn just smirked up at her, "Cheer up lass, you get to really stretch your wheels this time." He looked grimly to the sea as a gust of wind pushed him again. "Last chance to back out lass. Once when we leave there's nowhere to turn round the express till Din. You ready for this?”

"Absolutely."

He patted her buffers and walked back to the cab. Seconds after he reached its shelter Screech saw the wall of rain race across the water towards them. It hit with the force of hammers falling from heaven, and the wind surged with it, rocking the train. Even with her lamps on, Gywn and Freda could barely see the rails in front of them. The minutes ticked by as the last passengers raced for the safety of the coaches, the rains falling harder with every minute.

Finally, the signal dropped and the guard waved his lantern, his whistle lost in the howl of the wind. Screech rolled out with a whistle from the relative shelter of the station platform into the storm. 

She rocked as the full force of the wind struck her broadside, water already pouring down her side.

She slowly gained speed as she ran by the seaside, water pouring from the cliffs above her. The rain and wind battered her and the coaches, even soaking Feda and Gwyn in her cab. She thundered down the line, racing for the shelter of the hills past the coast. As she rounded the final bend on the coast, the wind struck her head on, pushing her back and her wheels shrieked as they slipped. Freda went to check her regulator, but Screech roared.

She dug in her wheels and surged forward against the wind, enraged it thought to stop her.

Finally, the track curved away from the coast and up into the hills.

"That's it, lass!" She faintly heard Gwyn call to her, "It'll be easier now!

But it wasn't.

The storm did not take the loss of its prey lightly, lashing out as had not been seen in many a year. The sky darkened to the point of midnight, the rain fell in a seemingly endless wall of water, and the wind surged against her. It shoved against her boiler, curled beneath her frames, and yanked at her side rods and motion, hoping to snatch her from the rails. She curled her tendrils tight around her cab, trying to protect her fragile crew from the worst of the storm.

And still the storm worsened. 

As she sailed down another hill into the wind she was forced to admit to the whisper, 'I can't tell where we are anymore.'

'We are four miles from Henaint.' It answered. 'You worry about pulling the train. I'll keep track of where we are.'

'Thank you.' Screech panted out against the storm.

But still the storm grew stronger.

Trees were uprooted, buildings swayed and collapsed, and in the middle of it all, a lone engine struggled against the storm.

As Screech crested the tallest hill, she felt the wind lift the coach behind her off the rails for a heartbeat, and she finally lost it.

"Enough!" She roared, slamming to a stop on the crest of the hill.

The wind surged around her angrily

Tendril wrapped tightly around Freda and Gwyn, shielding them from what was to come.

"I DID NOT RESIST DEATH ITSELF TO BE HINDERED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!!!"

The wind surged forth towards the 47xx on top of the tallest hill.

Screech screamed.

A wave even darker than the night around them surged forth, blasting trees, rocks, rain, and wind aside. The scream shattered outwards, blasting away anything in its path...including the storm.

High in the heavens above them, clouds were ripped asunder as the storm was ripped from the skies outward in a circle surrounding the lone engine.

Daylight finally broke through, shining on a battered, weary, but unbeaten express.

Screech panted harshly, relaxing her tendrils from the crew. A moment later she felt Freda's hand rub her cabside.

"Are you alright my dear?"

Screech managed a mirthless chuckle, "I should be asking you that."

"We're fine, just rest and we'll have another engine and..."

"No. I will not let it beat me."

...

Screech was unsure what time it was when the express arrived at Din, but no one cared, merely relieved to see the train arrive safely.

Debris littered the streets as far as she could see, thankfully most of the buildings in town seemed intact, with the debris instead made up of litter, refuse, and tree limbs. 

Miss Morgan stood waiting at the platform as Screech dragged the train the last few yards.

"Well done." She said quietly. Screech nodded tiredly. Miss Morgan turned to Geyn and Freda.

"Get her to the shed. Enid will take you all back to Uman once the line is confirmed clear."

Screech tiredly puffed into the Din sheds. Enid was waiting worriedly, "are you alright?"

"I'm just tired. I will be fine in the morning."

"Thank Swindon." Enid sighed with relief. "Thank you for covering for Abbey, I know you prefer goods work, and with that storm..."

Screech shrugged, "We help where we are needed, that's the great western way."

Enid snorted in dry agreement, "Just so, I have no idea what we'll do when you eventually leave."

Screech was saved from answering by the arrival of 1401, and Enid's enthusiastic greeting to the 14xx

Screech was grateful for the reprieve for Enid's words had given her a realisation,

'I don't want to leave.'

[hazel-of-sodor]

Uman and Din Master Post

A Screech in the Night

Ch.1 The Uman and Din

Ch:2 Firelight

Ch:3 The Morning Pike

Ch.4 Dawnbreak

Ch.5 An Angry Star

Ch.6 The Great Western Way

Ch.7 Forget Me Not

Ch.8 Shatter

Ch.9 Plea

Ch.10 Theft

Ch.11 Thunder and Awe

Ch.12 Aftermath

Ch.13 Repair

Ch.14 Home

What’s Lost is Found

Ch.1 Life on the Uman and Din

Ch.2 Mali

Ch.3 Plans

Ch.4 Memories

Ch.5 The Hound

Ch.6 The Dawn

Ch.7 Into the Past

Ch.8 The Resting Village

Ch.9 The Climb

Ch.10 Broken

Ch.11 What Once was Home

Ch.12 Left Behind

Ch. 13 Homeward

Ch.14 Return Again

Ch.15 Disappear

Ch.16 Bring Them Home

Ch.17 Into Autumn

Ch.18 Found

Ch.19 Embrace

Ch.20 Content

Something Holy This Way Comes

Ch.1 Of Snow and Little Sisters

Ch.2 Secrets

Ch.3 Champion

Ch.4 Caomhnóir

Ch.5 Cassandra

Ch.6 Settling In

Ch.7 Safe

Ch.8 Crews

Ch.9 Shadows

Ch.10 What You Have Unleashed

Ch.11 Remnant

Ch.12 Home

Ch.13 Alive

Ch.14 The Works

Ch.15 The Last

Ch.16 I Searched For You

Ch.17 Sarah

Ch.18 Crash

Ch.19 Outburst

Ch.20 Letters

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.7 Forget Me Not

Other Chapters

Once the express had cleared the block, the signal dropped and Screech set off with her load. Every few miles they would pull off the mainline into a passing siding to either allow another train to pass, or to pick up more trucks. Slowly slate and stone stretched out in front of her. The train grew from 10 trucks to nearly 40. The crew explained they normally had to make two trips to make all the collections, as the weight was too great for any of their engines. As the train grew, Screech had to work harder to restart the train every time they stopped.

She pulled into Din near 10 o'clock with heavy puffing, and clouds of smoke and steam billowing from her funnel as she climbed through the town to the goods yard. Workmen scattered as she steamed into the yard, grinning from frame to frame with the challenge as she pulled to a stop.

'What about our plan?' The whisper hissed.

Before Screech could respond,  she was uncoupled and given a slow goods to Henaint. The whisper tried to ask again, but they were sent further down the line to Coedwig to pick up a load of timber from the mills. She ran the timber down to the Harbor at Uman, before immediately being sent to Dyffryn to collect a train of wool and mutton.

On throughout the day, Screech ran up and down the railway. Fast trains, slow trains, branchlines, the mainline, and everything in between. She only ever stopped long enough for her loads to be coupled and uncoupled, taking on coal and water while her trains were being arranged.

Again and again, the whisper tried to ask what was her, their, plan. But each time she was given a new train before she could answer.

As darkness fell, she left Din with a load of empty trucks, stopping at each station and goods yard to drop some off.

The moon was high in the night by the time she reversed into the Uman sheds, the last engine to arrive. Enid and most of the other engines were asleep, but Abbey was still awake.

"You should be asleep." 

"I can't. Not till all the engines are back, I'll have nightmares otherwise."

Screech nodded in acquiesce. 

"Eagle was much the same. Now rest while I keep watch."

The express engine frowned, "it's my turn to keep watch, it is your turn to sleep."

"I am unsure if I can sleep. I may very well lack the ability. I certainly don't tire as I used to."

Glastonbury Abbey met her eyes searchingly then nodded slowly. "Very well, but eventually you will need to rest, even if you don't need to sleep."

"But not tonight." Screech flicked a tendril up in front of Abbey's face. The Star's eyes crossed trying to look at it.

"Sleep."

The tendril pressed the express engine lightly on the nose. She stubbornly tried to resist, but couldn't keep her eyes from closing.

Screech smugly smiled, but her good mood was not to last.

'REVENGE,' the whisper hissed, angry at having been ignored throughout the day.

Screech was slammed by images, London, the other railway, the scrapyard, her sisters...

For a moment she was lost in the swirl of images, but with a heave, she threw them from her mind.

"YOU FORGET YOURSELF!" 4702 roared, the sound thundering across the valley.

Next to her Enid jerked awake at the sound, trembling in the sudden cold.

Screech quickly trailed a tendril across her cheek to send her back to sleep, repeating the process with the others just to be sure.

She then turned her attention back to the whisper, glaring into the night. "You have no right." She rumbled angrily.

'Revenge.' It whispered back, chastened, but still upset. It flashed images to her, gently this time, of her day. Of her running throughout the day, laughing and smiling. 'You're forgetting revenge.'

"I haven't forgotten. This is revenge." She could feel the whisper's askance at the assertion.

Screech let out a long sigh, "We can't win. No matter how many of them we kill, they'll just appoint more. And the scrapping won't stop. We can wreak all the havoc we want on people, but the Other Railway won't care. But this... This is something they want. Something we can take from them."

The whisper was quiet for a moment. 'Don't forget revenge.'

Screech smiled, "I promise I won't forget you."

With that promise, the whisper quieted. She settled down to guard the shed for the night.

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech on the Night Ch:4

Ch.4 Dawnbreak

Other Chapters

The sun slowly peaked over the hills, the light breaking through slowly to light the sky in brilliant colours as Screech raced down the line. Snow flew to the side as she flew through the dawnlight. In the warmth of her cab, Gwyn worked hard to keep the steam up as Freda managed the regulator.

Screech felt alive in a way she hadn't since...she couldn't remember. The last few years she'd spent alive had hardly been living. The gas axe hanging over her kind had made her feel as if she had already been scrapped, her body just hadn't caught up. But this, racing through the morning with a heavy train...this was what she was meant for.

The whisper was quiet. Unable to compete with the joy of running again, of being useful again. 

She approached a sleepy station and yard, the faded name Henaint visible on the sign. She felt Freda grab her whistle cord and her whistle sounded out through the early morning, howling out across the hills and through the wind like a tortured soul.

Throughout the town, dogs raised their heads at the sound and joined in, the humans trembling in their homes from the otherworldly chorus. 

As Screech shot past the town and into the hills beyond, the sun finally broke the night's hold and crested the horizon, causing the landscape into stark relief as she raced onward.

Southward she charged, livestock and wildlife alike scattering at the black beast's approach. As she crested the tallest hill, the land was laid out before her, mountains glistened with snow in the distance, rivers carved through the land like the great snakes of old, and lakes shone like mirrors in the dawnlight.

"Ppeeeeeeeeppppp"

Screech couldn't have held back the elated whistle as she thundered down the hill if she wanted. Birds stormed from the treetops in terror at the sound, wheeling in disarray above her.

Still, she raced onwards, the fish vans behind her swaying with her speed. She grinned as a tunnel grew in her vision. Shrieking her whistle like a lost soul, she plunged into the darkness, before all too soon she popped out the other side.

A viaduct spanned a valley, a river surging its banks with melted snow far below. Her whistle echoed out from the tunnel into the valleys below.

She thundered back onto solid ground and soared forward along the rails, steam billowing behind her like a cloak in the dawning light.

Finally, a caution signal showed, and she slowed, gliding effortlessly into Din as the sun chased away the last vestiges of dawn. She stopped at the end of the unloading platform, the end of the train stretching out into the yard. On the platform, workers stared in awe and fear at the beast of shadow and steam before them, but Screech took no notice.

She panted happily from her exertion, it had been so long. She hadn't pulled a train like that in years.

Gywn patted her cab as he climbed down, "Well done! Well done indeed! Our longest train yet, and early too."

Screech's smug smile was interrupted by the arrival of the yard manager.

"Jones you old bat!" He clasped Gwyn's hand as he walked up. "Only you could find a Night Owl just as we need her. Where did you find this beauty?"

"I'm afraid she's just passing through and agreed to lend us a hand, she's to be off once this is unloaded."

The yardmaster's face fell. "Oh...well...Abbey will just have to make do then." The two men looked at each other uncertainly, both clearly uncomfortable with pushing their Star any further.

The yardmaster shook his head, "there's nothing for it," he sighed before turning to Screech. "Thank you my lady for your help. The Lord knows Abbey needs what rest she can get." He gently laid a hand on her running board. Much like the Jones, nothing happened to his hand other than gaining a coating of soot. "We thank you, lass. We owe you more than you know. If you ever need shelter again, our shed is open."

He rubbed her buffer beam, closing his eyes and sighing, before walking away.

'Revenge' the whisper returned quietly, flashing images of London across her mind, but they were quickly swept away by the memory of the strained Star class sleeping fitfully in her shed.

"Do you have a train that needs pulling?"

The words were out before she realised she'd made a decision. Her voice echoing through the yard, filling every nook and crevice of the yard with a twisted siren's call, the vans rattling in its reverberation.

The yardmaster stopped and looked back at her in bemusement 

"Yesterday's vans need to be taken back to Uman. The line has to be clear by 7 so the Express can leave on time." Then once it's left we need to collect from the quarries along the line, bringing their loads here, before returning with..." 

He trailed off, lost in the problems of trying to make it with his few engines.

'No,’ the whisper pleaded, but its tone told her it already knew it had lost.

The former Great Western  No.4702 shifted her wheels mightily.

"Where is my train then."

As the crews stared at her with dawning hope in their eyes, she smirked.

"My old driver would have my frames if he were to ever learn I left you in need. I have disappointed many, but never him...and I don't intend to start now."

Gwyn was already uncoupling her from the morning pike as cheers rang out through the yard.

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night Ch:3

Ch:3 The Morning Pike

Other Chapters

4702 rolled alongside the fish vans quietly. Workmen were filling the long line of cars quickly. The train stretched the length of the dock, mismatched cars assembled in seemingly random order. The ground was slick with ice and snow. A worker slipped and fell beside the line. 4702 stopped effortlessly before him despite the icy tracks.

"Careful little one," she crooned, her voice making the fallen worker feel as if his spine was slowly being pulled inside out, "keep flopping around like that and someone might mistake you for the tasty fish you're carrying." Her smile was wide and far too sharp. The worker scrambled up with an apology and shot off like a jackrabbit for the other end of the train.

She chuckled as she pulled forward once again, the whisper cackling at the worker's reaction. She heard Gywn and Freda call to the worker, but someone else had caught her attention.

At the end of the train, lorries stood, waiting for any fish that couldn't be fit into the train. "Come now!" one of them yelled to the workers, "You know that clapped-out old kettle can't pull all this!" Load us first and maybe the fish will make it on time." The other lorries eyed her silent approach nervously, but the rude lorry was oblivious to her until she spoke, brazenly rolling forwards so his bumper overhung the tracks 

"Well now," she purred, the lorry freezing in fear. "What do we have here?" She rolled forward smoothly, towering higher and higher over the now trembling lorry with each turn of her wheels. "Are you lost little lorry? Surely you must be, surely you didn't try to convince our workers to steal from my train?" Her tone was sickeningly sweet as if she were a mother who simply couldn't believe their child would do such a thing. But her smile and eyes belied that tone. The Lorry tried to speak but found himself unable as the 47xx loomed over him, tendrils spreading freely into the night air like a mane of black fire. The longer he looked the more he knew there was something more there, that if he looked past her he would see something he wasn't supposed to, something other. And he knew she wanted him to.

Screech rolled to a stop, a mere hairs breath from his bumper, and looked down upon the quivering lorry.  

"Surely you must be in the wrong place, after all, you wouldn't be so foolish as to call me a clapped-out old kettle would you?"

She dragged the tip of a tendril lightly across his cheek tenderly, to him it felt as if a knife was being dragged along his skin, just lightly enough to avoid cutting him. He shook his head back and forth frantically.

"But where did you think you were?" 4702 asked mock thoughtfully, "this is the only rail line for miles." The lorry felt as if his engine block was being squeezed by an unseen force with every word. "Oh, you must truly be lost. I think you need to go home little lorry, you're in no state to be out here." The lorry tried to speak but 4702 cut him off with a shush, "Don't worry, I'll handle everything here, now GO."

The last word rolled through his mind like thunder as 4702 gently slipped forward and lightly tapped his bumper with her buffer. Rust spread from the tap like ice across a window. The lorry gaped at the sight, before shooting off like a man possessed out of the yard.

4702 chuckled warmly as the other lorries trembled. The whisper in her mind cackling in glee 

"Screech that was a bit much wasn't it?" Freda couldn't quite keep the smirk out of her voice.

"Of course not, we wouldn't want a poor lorry to stay lost would we?"  Screech smiled at the other lorries. All but one chose the better part of valour and bolted. The remaining one was a smaller steam lorry. She was painted red with gold trim and had the railways logo on her doors. "And who are you little brave one?"

The little lorry gulped, "Arwen, Miss Screech."

"Very well Arwen, I suppose it all falls to us then."

Arwen nodded timidly and followed as Screech backed down onto the long train.

Gwyn called up, "All forty-three vans are full, I hope you're up to the challenge, gorgeous."

Screech snorted, "The only way I fail is if I run out of steam...and I would be most displeased with you if I did."

Rather than acknowledge the clear threat, he smiled with glee, "that's what I like to hear!" 

The whisper grumbled about mad old men as Gwyn ducked back into her cab.

Behind her, Freda hooked the front van's coupler to her tender. The coupling felt white hot against the cold of her tender, but it held together Screech couldn't even manage surprise at the fact it hadn't rusted apart on contact, she was resigned to this railway breaking the laws of her existence.

The doors began slamming shut down the length of the train. Screech shifted her wheels forward for grip, eagerly tensing in anticipation, staring at the all-clear signal before her.

The last door slammed shut and the dock workers stepped clear. The guard waved his green lantern.

"Right then!" Freda called, "let's show them what you've got, Screech."

4702 pulled forward with the screech of slipping wheels, her tendrils gripping the rails giving her better grip. One by one the vans were pulled forward. She pulled under the signal and onward onto the line proper.

As she accelerated away from the docks and the last car cleared the points, all she could think was...

'I missed this.'

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night: Ch.1

Ch.1 The Uman and Din

Other Chapters

To the north of Harlech in Merioneth, lies a little railway, the Uman and Dim. Once a branch line of God's Wonderful Railway itself, the line had been closed by a Doctor who had odd ideas on healing the country's rail lines. The Doctor had been tasked with fixing the railways by men who knew the price of everything, and the value of nothing. The solution he came up with was to simply remove lines till the railway worked. 

 The Uman and Din was one of the lines closed, but as normally happens in the world, the people the line served knew the line's value better than the directors in London. The line was bought for the town and with it six engines. These were not diesels or even electrics as one might guess today, but steam engines, proper Swindon ones at that. This is the story of how they gained their seventh.

One cold winter's night, the railway received a visitor. Eight large driving wheels propelled a shadow across the yard towards the shed. Tendrils of shadow whipped off of the engine's form.

'Scare them,' a quiet voice whispered within the giant's mind.

 4702 chuckled lowly as she approached the shed. These engines looked so content and secure in this little shed. It was time to remind them how lucky they were to be saved from her fate. A glimpse of her fate would ensure they valued what they had been given.

"Quiet," came the quiet hiss just as 4702 was about to blast her whistle. She looked in surprise to see a 0-6-0 pannier tank of the 97xx class was awake and looking at her anxiously.

Before 4702 could reply, the tank engine spoke. "You're more than welcome to sleep here, we'd never turn another engine away, especially another Western, but please keep it down." She looked over to the Star class at the end of the shed. "Abbey only got back an hour ago and has to be up at daybreak. She needs her sleep."

4702 looked over the Star class. Even in sleep, exhaustion covered her features. The number 4061 on her cabside was faded and dull, as were the nameplates on her sides reading Glastonbury Abbey, but above her smokebox a lovingly polished nameplate reading Guinevere sat. She towered over the other engines in the shed.

The 97xx followed her gaze. "She's the strongest." She whispered quietly. "We help where we can, but she's the only one capable of far too many of the trains."

4702 surveyed the other engines, each bore exhaustion on their features heavily as they slept fitfully.

The 97xx looked no better, it was obvious she dearly wished to join her fleetmates in sleep. Painted across the side of her can the name Enid could just be made out.

'Wake them!' the whisper cackled.

4702 shoved the voice aside with all the strength her class was famed for. 

"Tell me little one," 4702's voice was a mere whisper, yet it echoed around them, bouncing back again and again from odd angles, filling the air as thoroughly as a siren. "why do you not sleep with your shedmates?"

The tank engine looked down sadly, "Vandals keep trying to steal parts from the shed...sometimes from off us. It's my night to stand watch."

'Scare theeemmm' the whisper hissed.

The giant flicked her tendrils in agitation, "Not tonight little one." The little 97 tried to argue, but 4702 continued, "sleep. I will stand guard. Any vandal will find themselves sorely regretting the choices that led them here this night."

4702 shimmered in place, suddenly facing out from the shed. She rolled quietly back into the shed, a shadow brushing coldly across the 97's cheek. She was asleep before 4702 had stopped moving.

'Revenge,' the whisper hissed sullenly.

"Not tonight," the giant rumbled quietly. "These engines have earned their rest."

The whisper subsided mutinously.

4702 allowed it a moment before continuing, "It is just for the night, tomorrow we steam for London. Then you will have your fill."

The whisper rumbled happily.

"Besides," 4702's smile stretched far too wide, "the night is not over yet. Who knows what vandals might stumble upon tonight."

The whisper's cackle rang throughout her mind.

Author’s Note:

Hey guys! This new fic will be coming out every Tuesday until I either catch up with where I’ve written (currently 7 chapters are done). Normally I wait till I’ve finished a Fic, but I honestly have no idea how far this fic will go. It was supposed to be a one shot and I’ve written 7 chapters and I’m not done with the original concept.

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.9: Plea

Other Chapters

Screech had settled into life on the Uman and Din. Whether the Uman and Din's constituents had settled with her presence was another matter. Nonetheless, the engines and crews of the line had readily accepted her. Whether that was due to how badly they needed her help, or they were truly unbothered by her eldritch existence, she was unsure. The longer she spent on the railway, the more she suspected the latter.

 Day after day she ran along the line with any train they gave her. Few challenged her in the slightest, but she enjoyed being useful again nonetheless. 

Day by day, the bags under the engines' eyes disappeared as their workloads were relaxed, and they slept soundly under her watchful eyes most nights. 

For one of the engines, this was not most nights. 3218 ‘Beca’ was 2251 class 0-6-0.  4702 remembered the railway men calling them ‘Collet Goods'. She was a mixed traffic engine by design and could be found on many of the line's secondary services. Besides Glastonbury Abbey,  she had been the engine most in need of relief when a Screech arrived. This made it all the more concerning that she was shaking in her sleep, even under the gentle strokes of eldritch tendrils.

Screech considered her options before reluctantly deciding that waking the poor engine was the best option.

She ran a tendril lightly across the trembling smokebox, and the engine gasped awake.

The engine gasped awake, looking around frantically before their eyes met. She was still for a moment, before bursting into heaving sobs.

Screech was taken aback, and completely out of her depth. Fear, she knew how to deal with, but sorrow? If she knew how to handle that she wouldn't be anything more than scrap. 

She briefly considered waking the others, but reluctantly acknowledged she was on her own. The others needed their sleep, and she knew the whisper's solution, as with everything, would be violence.

She gently wrapped tendrils over the 0-6-0's boiler, gently stroking the tips along it, letting the engine cry.

Slowly the engine's breathing calmed from hiccups to merely exhausted panting, and the tears slowed, although they did not stop. 

After a moment Screech spoke, "now little one, what has you so distraught?"

Beca’s eyes stayed locked on the track before her. She was silent but Screech waited patiently. And finally, she broke her silence.

"3219, my little sister. She's going to be scrapped, and I can't stop it. We all promised to protect her, but there's nothing we can do."

Screech thought for a long moment, "If my memory serves, you were the last two of your class..."

3218 nodded, "We were the first engines built at Swindon after nationalisation... We were taught our ways, but..."

"You never lived under the GWR."

"Exactly. I...I don't know what's happened to her. One of our brothers, 3205, has been preserved. But I've heard nothing of her."

3218's head hung low. "No one wanted us. We weren't true Great Westerns...and we weren't the other railway's engines either."

Well that was enough of that.

Screech used a tendril to push 3218's head up, "you ARE Great Western. The Great Western Way is how you lived. Not how you were built. There will be no more of this 'not-Great Western' nonsense. Understand?"

Beca slowly nodded.

"Now then. I have no idea if your sister is in service or not. Nor do I know what scrapyard she might be sent to. But if I hear news, I will steam straight for her, and drag her back.” 

Beca met her eyes, "Promise?" She asked, begged, desperately.

"On my frames. Now get some sleep."

Screech slid the tendril's tips lightly across 3218's boiler as she pulled them back, sending her into a deep sleep.

Screech sat for a moment, staring at the rails before looking up towards the sky blocked by the shed roof.

'Don't,' the whisper pleaded.

Screech rumbled with irritation, "you do not get to remain silent while I comfort her, only to disagree now."

'...fair enough.' The whisper sighed.

4702 rolled forward into the snow and moonlight. The moon was full, casting the snow-coated yard into an ethereal light. She looked up toward the moon and sighed as she closed her eyes.

"I know that I of all engines have no right to ask anything of you, my Lady...but 3218 is a good engine. Better than I ever was in life. I am not asking for you to save 3219, I'm just asking for news. I will save her if I can. But not knowing her sister's fate leaves her in more pain than my own. Please my Lady."

Thunder rumbled across the skies, Screech lowered her head. "If you hear me...even if you do not answer...thank you for listening, if not for my sake, then for 3218."

Screech rolled slowly, quietly back into the sheds.

...

Several mornings later Screech was sitting near the coaling tower during Gwyn and Freda's lunch break. 3218 was taking on water, the two engines enjoying the moment of quiet when a shout rang out from the station. Gwyn came running out of the station, envelope in hand. He sprinted for 3218, tripping and falling over the sleepers in his excitement. Before Screech could reach out a tendril, Freda was there helping him back on his feet. 

"BECA!" Gywn crowed happily. "You have a letter!"

3218 blinked in confusion, squinting at the letter in his hands, "I do?"

'How does one even address a letter to an engine?' The whisper mused.

Screech repeated the question.

Freda smiled, "Her controller managed to find us and put her letter in one meant for us."

"Her controller?" Abbey asked with confusion from the station platform.

Gwyn danced a jig as Freda held up the letter and read,

"To the Uman and Din Light Railway

From Sir Charles Topham Hatt II, controller of the North Western Railway:

Greetings. I apologise for any inconvenience, but one of my newly purchased engines implored me to find former Great Western Locomotive no.3218, who I am informed is in your care. If you would please ensure 3218 received this letter from her sister 3219,..."

The rest of the letter was drowned out by the sounds of whistles and cheers.

...

Later that night, once the others were asleep, Screech rolled out into the moonlight once again.

"Thank you my Lady..."

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.10 Theft

Other Chapters

 The smallest and oldest tender engine on the Uman and Din was Avon. A small 2-4-0 built by the original Great Western Railway before the turn of the century, before grouping, she was a shy, quiet engine who preferred to listen to others rather than speak herself.

One could be forgiven for expecting such an engine to flee at the mere sight of 4702, but instead, she could often be found alongside the eldritch giant, enjoying the companionable silence.

Avon hauled the stopping local passenger along the line. In recent years she had been joined by Enid upon the younger engines purchase, but before that, Avon had managed the service alone since her arrival in 1917, long before most of her fleet mates had been built.

Screech had noticed the exact details of her arrival were vague at best. One day she'd been headed for the scrapyard, the next she was being overhauled at Swindon for service on the Uman and Din. Screech suspected the U&D's controller, Miss Morgan, was involved but knew better than to push. Even decades later, the woman was a force to be reckoned with. They'd met only briefly, but Screech was left with a sneaking suspicion that crossing the manager would be a grave mistake even for one of her existence. By all accounts, the woman had run the railway through her late husband before grouping and had been the one to wear down the other railway into selling her the line and its current engines.

On this night, Screech had run late with the last freight due to the other railway's train arriving over an hour late. She'd managed to make up nearly 30 mins when she pulled into the Uman yards, but it was still well past dark when she approached the shed. 

 A group of youths had noticed her absence and decided to take advantage in order to steal parts. Enid had stood guard, but her whistles had gone unnoticed as the workers had been busy unloading the late train. The engines in the shed glared at the youths carrying off arm-fulls of metal parts. None had noticed the unnaturally silent approach of the Eldritch giant in favour of a disagreement playing out.

A girl stood between Avon and the rest of the teens. "We are not stealing parts off of her! That's too far..."

"Oh shut up Molly." A boy snapped, the girl glaring at the name, "It's no different. It's not actually alive. It's just a machine that should have been scrapped years ago."

"How can you say that!" The girl demanded, the engines' angry rumbling behind her.

"Easily." The leader said uncaring, "as easily as reminding you who's in charge will be if you don't move"

"I'm afraid it won't be so easy as that."

Both youths and engines froze as the stalking beast made herself known.

The youths tried to run, but Screech flicked a large tendril and sent all but the girl flying across the yard, smashing into a pile of old pallets.

"Gywn if you would be so kind as to call someone to collect the hooligans."

A few tried to scramble free of the pallets before Screech continued, "Preferably before I grow hungry."

The youths in the pallets quickly decided the pile of broken pallets was far too comfortable to leave, and that they should stay where they were as Gwyn went to call the authorities

Screech turned her attention back to the girl trembling between Avon's buffers.

"Now little thief, what is your name?"

The girl gulped nervously, "Mali, it's Mali Miss Screech."

"Well little thief, it seems despite your good heart, you cannot be trusted to keep out of trouble. My driver used to say idle hands are the devil's playthings. Would you perhaps agree?"

Mali quickly nodded her agreement to the looming behemoth.

 "How wonderful. Well then, it would be quite irresponsible of me to leave you with so much time on your hands then, would it not? You will be here with the firelighters before dawn for your shift. They will keep you busy and out of trouble, so you can be the upstanding young woman you clearly already know how to be."

The young woman swallowed nervously, "Yes, thank you Miss Screech."

"Of course. Now run along little thief, you need sleep before your shift begins, and I would hate to need to come looking for you."

Freda laid a hand on Screech's cabside as she leaned out. "Wait at our car, dear. We'll drive you home."

"Thank you, Miss Jones." Mali slowly slid around Avon's buffers, keeping as much distance between her and the Eldritch Giant as possible, sprinting for the car when Screech began chuckling.

Avon smiled fondly at the girl's retreating back, "I like her."

"Indeed."

Screech shimmered as she flipped to face the other direction, backing slowly into her spot.

Enid was smirking at her.

Screech eyed the little tank engine tiredly.

"I saw those tendrils catch the youths right before they hit." She teased.

"The Lady has tolerated my existence thus far. I have no delusions that would remain to be so if I were to harm a child."

Enid's grin grew larger, "admit it. You're a big softie."

Screech reached a tendril above Enid, the tank engine watching curiously. The tendril lightly tapped the wooden beams of the shed room above her, turning them translucent.

Enid screeched as snow rained down on her from the newly intangible roof. Screech tapped the roof back into place as Enid trembled under the snow. The whisper cackling at the tank engine's predicament.

"I believe you'll find me quite cold-hearted my dear."

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.5 An Angry Star

Other Chapters

Screech was quickly coupled up to a line of empty fish vans and sent back down the line. At Henaint, she passed Enid who was waiting with a local commuter. She was surprised 97xx happily whistled to her, as she thundered by, but returned the gesture, her howling whistle echoing from the distant mountains.

She shot past the smaller villages and towns of the railway, people stopping to stare as she raced past. The ends of her tendrils seemed to catch alight in the morning sun, her heavy puffing felt more in their heart than heard in their ears.

The train wasn't a challenge to her, not like the first, but it was still nice to stretch her wheels, to feel the weight of a train behind her.

The final stretch towards Uman ran by the coast, the surf roaring below her. She was unable to resist an answering roar, her whistle echoing over the waters. A wave splashed up in front of her showering her with spray as she burst through it. She laughed with an acknowledging whistle. Challenging the ocean was beyond her. The rest of the run by the coast was broken up by waves playful bursting over the retaining walls for her to burst through, laughing all the while. Her laughter made Gywn and Freda shudder as their stomach flipped, but they smiled at her obvious joy all the same.

On the outskirts of the town, she was slowed by a caution signal, then stopped at the home signal. The home signal stood by a schoolyard, and the children came running to see the stopped train. The boys started in awe at the towering locomotive before them. 

"A 4700!" One of them called, "I thought they were never allocated here." He pulled out a journal, and when he opened it she saw the numbers of the Uman and Din's locomotives written.

Screech chuckled, "It is the first time any of us have been here. I'm helping out the Uman and Din catch up."

The boys all paled and took a step back at the twisting sensation of her voice before, "That was bloody wicked!"

The boys all cheered excitedly. In the cab, Freda rolled her eyes.

 "Don't worry my dear," Gwyn chuckled, "they'll grow out of it."

Freda gave him a flat glare, "you didn't."

The home signal dropped, and Screech pulled forward with a blast of her whistle, the boys falling silent at the sound before cheering even louder.

Screech smirked proudly as she pulled off, allowing the sea breeze to blow her tendrils like a mane.

She rolled smoothly through the town, people staring as she passed by. A monster made steel.

She approached the station, only to hear an argument taking place.

"You know any of the others would strain themselves with the morning pike!"

The Star class was furious. Steam billowed around her like a tempest, obscuring the coaches and platform behind her.

Her driver was trying to calm her with little success. "You needed sleep Abbey, we found another engine to..."

"I don't care." 4061 snapped with a lift of her safety valves, "I will not see another engine hurt themselves..."

Having heard enough, Screech ended the argument with a blast of her whistle. The Star fell silent as her eyes snapped to her in shock and alarm.

4702 stopped sharply on the platform points, ignoring her all-clear signal to stare down the Express engine.

"While I appreciate the concern for your fellow engines, I hardly believe you need to worry about MY strain, little star."

Glastonbury Abbey locked eyes with the massive freight engine. To Screech's surprise and delight, she easily held her gaze. " I am responsible for the care of every engine on this line.."

"And you are doing a wonderful job looking after them...except for one."

Abbey subsided, glaring at 4702's smirk.

"Oh, have you not seen her? Express engine, taking on way more than she should, bags under her eyes..."

Screech couldn't help but chuckle as the Star's glare intensified.

 'Guinevere indeed...'

"I will not force them to carry my burdens," the Star replied testily.

"A sentiment almost as adorable as your glare."

A blush joined the glare, Screech suddenly sobered. "The only way you would force them to carry your burdens is if you broke down because you took too much on."

She went to protest, but Screech was relentless, "for now I am here and you will leave the goods work to me. You will pull your passenger trains, but other than that you will rest."

The two engines stared each other down for a long moment. Finally, Abbey glanced down to the points, "you won't move till I agree, will you?"

"Not an inch," Screech agreed with a far too wide grin. After a long moment, 4061 sighed in defeat and nodded. 

Screech's smile grew even wider in victory, and she slowly rolled forward, before calling back, "And if I find you breaking our agreement, I'll have Enid hide your tender. Dry rails and smooth running."

The stars whistled reply had more than one mother cover their child's ears. Screech just chuckled.

'And what happens when you leave them?' The whisper returned, souring 4702's good mood. She was quiet for a long moment.

"...I don't know."

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.6 The Great Western Way

Other Chapters

In the goods yard, Screech was uncoupled from the empty fish vans almost before she stopped the train. She was quickly run around to collect a short line of ten or so stone trucks. Freda offered to turn her round on the turntable before coupling up, but she saw no reason to bother. So she was coupled up running tender first.

She pulled up on the opposite platform from Abbey at 6:53. The platform, which had previously been full of passengers, emptied in what seemed like seconds as people fled into the coaches, eager to put distance between them and the eldritch beast.

Glastonbury Abbey snorted, "well now I know how to get them on board on time."

Screech let out a puff of amusement.

Abbey hesitated, "Screech, is it?"

4702 shifted slightly in an engine's version of a shrug, "that or 4702 is fine. I also answer to demon, diafol, and 'What the hell is that!?"

The Star barked a short laugh, "alright then."

She was quiet for a long moment. "Thank you...I should have said that earlier."

Screech remained silent, letting her speak.

"I've carried this railway so long... I was going to be scrapped at first. Only one of us was going to be saved, Lode Star.  They hadn't started trying to save us yet. Not like now. I arrived in the scrapyard as night fell, I went to sleep without much hope, only to wake up the next morning at the end of a goods train. Never even saw the engine pulling it. It stopped at Din, I was decoupled, and it left.

Suddenly I wasn't outdated. Suddenly I was strong, powerful...suddenly...I was wanted."

"You saved the railway."

The express loco huffed a bitter laugh, "For how long. Every day we fall further behind. The trains get longer and heavier, and we get weaker. So I took more and more on. Sooner or later we'd get a new engine, soon we'd get a break...it never came."

The Star glared at the tails before her, uncaring of the bitter tears hitting her footplate.

"The Other Railway wants us dead." She spat. "They were all too happy to sell this line when they thought it was worthless." But once we proved there was life in the line... they refused to sell us a single engine. They know we can't spare any of us for overhaul. But if we're not overhauled soon...we'll break down. And the line will close." With a heave, Screech pulled backward so she could look Abbey in the eyes, her tender just shy of the points.

"Not while I'm here."

Abbey looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"British Rails took my life, l won't let them take yours. You've carried this railway long enough. Let me take a turn. "

4061 searched her eyes for a moment, then nodded, "Thank you," she said quietly.

"Always," 4702 rumbled back, "It's the Great Western Way."

Abbey smiled, against the tear tracks on her cheek. "Yes, it is. I had almost forgotten that."

The signal dropped as the clock struck 7, and Abbey pulled out of the station, but not before whistling farewell, leaving a pensive but determined 4702 behind.

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night Ch:2

Ch:2 Firelight

Other Chapters

The firelighters arrived early before dawn. They stopped cold at the sight of the rumbling eldritch behemoth guarding the shed as if a dragon had come to protect its mechanical kin. But this was Wales, and after a moment the workers shrugged and began preparing the other engines.

The engines roused slowly as their fires were raised, 4702 watching their double takes at her presence with amusement.

Once the others were steamed, the firelighters glanced toward the giant apprehensively, "Do we light her fire as well?" One asked, mustering her courage.

"Oh, you certainly may try," 4702 cooed, reaching out with one of her tendrils to tap the firelighters rag.

The young woman dropped her rag hastily as it turned to ash in seconds.

"Leave her to me." The head firelighter stepped forward. He was an older gentleman with a head full of grey, short hair, the tips turning white.

4702 raised an eyebrow, "I will not be responsible for anything you lose in the attempt."

The whisper cackled in her mind.

The old man smiled knowingly, "I'll make you a deal young lady, if you're right, I'll make sure no one holds it against you, and you can go on your merry way."

The firelighter's smile suddenly grew challenging, almost predatory, "but if I can stream you, you have to pull our morning freight." 

'Do iiiitttt.' The whisper pleaded.

4702 smiled a shark-like grin, happy to agree with the whisper, "We have a deal."

The firefighter pulled off his gloves and moved to lay his hand on her running board.

'Yesss!' The whisper cackled with glee.

To both of their shock a warmth shot through her running board the instant his hand made contact. She couldn't help the shudder that shook her frames as she felt heat for the first time since her scrapping.

The firelighter met her eyes with a small smirk, " Would you be a Dear and pull up to the coaling stage, chun? You'll need plenty of coal and water for today." He patted her running board and walked towards the coaling tower.

'How...' The whisper sounded utterly dumbfounded.

The giant rolled forward slowly, uncaring that her curiosity was shown openly. Everything else she had touched had been reduced to ash in seconds. How could he touch her?

She stopped by the coaling stage and soon the lever was pulled and her tender filled for the first time in months. She fought to keep from squirming at the once familiar feeling. She was so focused on the feeling she almost missed the firelighter grabbing her tender handrail and clambered up on top.

The whisper grumbled about the unfairness of it all as the firelighter swung the water pipe over and began to fill her tender.

Before 4702 could respond a shout echoed through the yard. 

"Gywn Jones, just what do you think you are doing?"

The firelighter's head popped up, "Freda my cariad!" His enthusiastic greeting was met with an unimpressed stare. "I was just firing up the young lass, isn't she just beautiful!"

4702 blinked dumbfounded. She'd had many reactions to her appearance: screams, fainting, and the ever-popular "why are my eyes bleeding?"

Freda was unimpressed. "By yourself? And would I be right in guessing you haven't even asked the poor lass her name?"

"Erm..."

"I thought not." The woman turned to face 4702, "Forgive my husband. He sees a pretty locomotive and what little brains he had flies out the window. I am Freda Jones and the rude fellow on your tender is Gywn." She glared at her sheepishly smiling husband. She laid a warm hand on 4702's buffers, "Now dear, do you have a name you prefer?"

'I like her,' the whisper grudgingly admitted.

"Screech." 4702 said slowly, staring at the hand on her buffer, unaffected even when she poked it with a tendril experimentally.

"A proper name for a Night Owl!" Gywn crowed, seemingly not noticing as a tendril kept him from slipping off the tender.

Freda pinched her nose in long-suffering exasperation. "In my defence dear, I thought he would eventually grow up." She sighed, "I guess I better come alone or He'll find you both in trouble soon enough."

"He mentioned a morning freight?" Screech ventured.

"The Morning Pike then," Freda said walking back toward the cab. "A fish train. Ran express from Uman through to Din. It's heavy, but I suspect you'll manage, and it'll let poor Guinevere get some sleep."

As Freda climbed into the cab, Gywn had begun expertly lighting a fire. For the first time in months, or was it years at this point? Warmth spread through Screech's boiler. Snow began to fall lightly, deepening the drifts around the yard. Long before she expected, her safety valve lifted as steam escaped into the dark morning air. Her tendrils poked at it experimentally. 

"Let us be off Screech!" Gywn called from the cab, "We'll show the lorries a thing or two today."

As she set off towards the distant docks, 4702 wondered what she had got herself into.

Author’s Note:

Hey guys! Currently writing Ch.8 and 9, and I haven’t even reached the original story beats yet. This is gonna be a long one.

[hazel-of-sodor]

What’s Lost is Found

Ch.5: The Hound

Other Chapters

Screech thundered down the line, coal cars from the Henaint mines stretched behind her, and Avon's mid-day train in front of her. The strain of constantly starting the long train was hard work even for an engine of her size...

Screech loved it. The feeling of hard work stretching her cylinders and motion, of actually being challenged as she took the weight of both trains. Avon had initially tried to pull her share of the weight until she saw Screech happily panting after the first run. She had rolled her eyes and grumbled something about crazy mainline engines that Screech didn't quite catch. The next run Avon had just pulled enough to keep her weight off the train and let Screech do the work.

The climb to Din failed to slow the train. Screech whistled in gleeful challenge, the passengers shuddering at the feeling of the sound twisting around their minds.

The sound startled the birds from the vibrant green treetops around them, and the sky was filled with fowl and smoke.

They plunged into the tunnel, Avon's answering whistle echoing along its length even as they burst through onto the viaduct. Hikers in the valley below stopped to take in the sight of the two engines racing atop the stone arches.

 They reached Din early, stopping at the points to uncouple Screech and her train, allowing Avon to continue to the station while Screech shunted the coal trucks into their sidings.

Once their trains had been sorted the two were parked at the shed while their crews took their lunch break in the crew hut.

For a moment all was quiet. Avon sighed happily in the shade of the shed. Screech took the chance to unfurl herself without risking her human crew, the shadows and light twisting around her in a nauseating kaleidoscope of angled and colors, tendrils sprouted and lay on the ground around her like Medusa's mane, and her eyes glowed as brightly as the sun above them. The two, engine and beast, had almost dozed off before a commotion erupted behind the shed.

Mali came skidding around the corner, clutching something to her chest, snarling and yapping coming from behind her.

Before either engine could react she had leaped onto Screech's running-board and pressed herself against the eldritch engine.

Her pursuer rounded the corner, only to come face to face with Screech. The mongrel stared down the eldritch behemoth before it, matted fur standing in end at the sight as countless tendrils rose into the air, ready to strike.

"I would suggest you hunt elsewhere," Gwyllgi suggested mildly, the ground shaking under the restrained power of her voice.

Unfortunately, the mutt had less sense than grooming and chose to growl at the shadow before it.

Screech's eyebrow twitched before she stretched a tendril toward"s the mongrel. 

Flick

***

Bowrooooooooo...

The town of Din looked up to see a mangy hound flying north towards the sea as if thrown by a giant.

***

Far away on the Cronk and Harwick Narrow-gauge Railway...

"And how would you care for a dog?" Sapphire asked amusedly. The quarry Hunslet was basking in the sun before her next train.

"Our crews could feed and water it." The 2-6-4 across from her bounced excitedly as she shunted the wagons of hay together.

Jenning stirred lazily next to Sapphire, "It's not your crew's job to care for your pet."

"Further," Sapphire continued before Leek could answer, "where would you even find a dog?"

The large tank engine pouted, "I'm sure I could find one."

Sapphire snorted, "I'll make you a deal Leeks," the 2-6-4 perked up. "If a stray dog finds its way to the sheds, we'll ask our crews if you can keep it."

"Deal!"

Jennings rolled her eyes, "here we go again."

Sapphire smirked and whispered to Jennings, "Unless one falls from the sky, there's no way a stray dog makes it to the shed without a child claiming it." 

The 0-4-0 considered a moment before nodding in agreement, "Fair enough."

Leeks tilted her head, "what's that noise."

The engines all listened.

A sound could barely be heard in the distance, growing louder quickly.

"AaarrrrrrooooooooooooooOOOOO!"

Crash!

A black shape hurtled from the heavens, smashing into the line of hay wagons. Hay and wood flew everywhere as the object plowed through the wagons, finally slamming to a stop against the back wall of the last truck before Leeks.

Silence reigned in the yard for a long moment. Leeks had flinched back from the impact, closing her eyes against the rain of hay and splinters. She slowly opened her eyes, peering cautiously at the back form in the wagon before her. The shape groaned, raising a matted head drunkenly.

"Aroo?"

"A dog!" She exclaimed, her safety valves lifting in excitement. "The Lady sent me a dog!"

"Are we even sure that's a dig and not a bloody gremlin!" Screech swore. 

"Gremlin. Yes, that's their name! Who's a good gremlin!"

 The mongrel managed to tiredly wag its tail under the hay.

Sapphire flinched back from the glare from Jennings's direction.

***

Screech collapsed herself back into hiding, grimacing at the nosebleed Mali had already developed.

Mali slowly uncurled from her position on Screech's footplate, her hand clasped around something.

Freda and Gwyn came around the corner followed by Avon's crew, drawn by the commotion.

"Mali dear are you alright?" Freda asked, pulling out a rag to wipe at the nosebleed.

"Yes Miss Freda," Mali said, wincing as the blood was scrubbed away. "I lept onto Screech's running board to get away from a dog and she was unfurled..."

"Be grateful that was all that happened Little Thief." Screech warned, "Had you looked too closely you could have been driven mad."

"Well, I had to save her!"

'Who is this her,' the whisper sighed.

When Screech repeated the question, Mali opened her hands.

Mew?

A small soot-covered kitten pressed itself into the girl's hands, staring at Screech apprehensively.

"A kitten!" Avon exclaimed delightedly.

"I saw the dog chasing her," Mali explained, "I just grabbed her and ran."

The kitten stared at the eldritch behemoth unblinking.

The giant snorted. "It has far too much attitude for something its size," she said, tapping the kitten's nose with a tendril.

The kitten hissed and swatted at the tendril.

Screech chuckled, the sound rumbling through the ground beneath them.

"It's certainly unafraid of you." Freda laughed. She began rubbing the kitten under its chin, causing it to pur, struggling to maintain its starring contest with

Screech.

Screech gave the engine equivalent of a shrug, "Animals seem to see more of me than humans. Their simpler minds are better at accepting my existence without crumbling. She most likely already has a far better idea of what I truly look like than you do."

"One would think that would make her more afraid of you," Gwyn observed.

"It's a cat," Screech stated dryly. "The only thing they hold in awe is food."

[hazel-of-sodor]

To the north of Harlech in Merioneth, lies a little railway, the Uman and Dim...

Tuesday, a new fic drops. In the dying days of Steam, a small railway in rural Wales is visited by a Shadow.

Hazel of Sodor presents:

A Screech in the Night