Cold Tracks & Empty Guns

Verse 1]

We were ridin’ east by lantern light, iron singin’ low and long

Powder stacked like promise in the dark, sayin’ we might just hold on

Engineer was hummin’ somethin’ soft, like he knew we’d make it through

Didn’t see no enemy ahead… didn’t hear a single clue

Then the rails went white like winter came

Outta nowhere, without a name

Ain’t no fire, ain’t no flame

Just the cold and no one to blame

Guns still loaded, never fired

Men lay still like the world got tired

Tracks froze hard where the devil ran

And death walked close like a quiet man

If you hear that night go numb—

Pray your hands can lift your gun

Train just shuddered, slowed to breath, like it hit an unseen wall

No explosion, no great crash—just silence over all

Jenkins reached to check the line… never made it back again

Swore I saw the dark move wrong—but I couldn’t say just when

Shapes that slipped where shapes don’t go

Eyes play tricks in that kind of cold

Ain’t no fire, ain’t no flame

Just the cold and no one to blame

Guns still loaded, never fired

Men lay still like the world got tired

Tracks froze hard where the devil ran

And death walked close like a quiet man

If you hear that night go numb—

Pray your hands can lift your gun

Found the engine—doors thrown wide, not a soul to drive her through

Captain’s coat still hangin’ there… like he just stepped out of view

Crates untouched, seals unbroke—but the guards were laid out clean

Not a drop where they went down… like they’d never even been

They say wings’ll bring you fire

Hear ‘em scream and climb up higher

But this ain’t that—this ain’t war

This is somethin’ else for sure

You don’t hear it, you don’t see

It just takes who it wants to be

Leaves the rest to tell the tale—

Cold wind ridin’ iron rail

Ain’t no fire, ain’t no flame

Just the cold and no one to blame

Guns still loaded, never fired

Men lay still like the world got tired

If you see them shadows run—

Son… you best not raise your gun

We buried who we could that night…

Left the rest to the frost and steel…

Command says it was raiders…

But raiders don’t move like that…

…and they don’t leave the powder behind