Car One, 8:45

Sara and Colin slung their large frame packs up onto the luggage rack.
"Man are we lucky to find seats together," says Colin. "I never expected an overnight train to be so full."
"Me neither," says Sara.

The train began with a jolt. Ada settles in next to a man who seemed to have more piercings that skin. Maybe I can actually get some work done on this trip, she thinks. Two weeks at home and the thesis is no further along than it was before break. From the back of the train comes the screaming to two children, a boy and a girl, fighting.

"Now settle down, kids. Save it for later."

Also near the back of the train is a large group of German tourists, all in their fifties and sixties, conversing loudly in German and waving guide books at each other. Dalton, sitting across the isle from them, and also perilously close to the loud family in the back, pulls on his headphones as well, and tries not to think about the two pounds of cocaine in his bag. He holds it in his lap, trying to act non-chalant, but clearly protecting it as if it were a small child. If the train is late, he thinks, and Dave is not there, what the hell am I going to do? Why am I doing this in the first place.

Route Map

Dramatis Personae

Train Information