“Well, Mr. Survival guy. How strong is your stomach?”
“Pretty strong, I guess. Why?”
“Somewhere in one of these twisted cars….” Harry pointed. “My guess near the middle or end is the coffee car. Why don’t you take this little fella over there? Have him wait outside and you hand him water. Bet there’s some bottled water in that car and other stuff I suppose that ain’t so pretty. You may have to be pretty nimble.”
“Don’t know what that is.” Foster said.
“Wiry. Agile,” Harry explained.
“Oh, I can be that. Is that why you asked about the strong stomach?”
“That’s why I asked.”
“I’ll look.” Foster took hold of Tyler’s hand. “Come with me.”
“And Foster…” Harry called before he moved away. “Good thinking again on the purses and such. You may want to get some people to help finish that.”
“Yeah, it’ll be something to do until help arrives.”
Harry only nodded. As Foster and Tyler moved to the cars, Harry mumbled, “Yeah, until help arrives.” Then he turned to car two.
Ben found Lana a nice spot against the wall. He sat her next to an older woman who clutched her purse for dear life. The woman’s grey hair was dashed with red, her face dirty and her expression was shock.
Lana adjusted the way she sat.
“Comfortable?” Ben asked.
“I’m fine, thank you. How are you? Are you hurt?” she asked.
“Not at all. A scratch here and there, but that’s it. Look.” He set down the small green and yellow duffle bag. “That boy found your gym bag.”
She released an ‘oh’ as if the news of the bag was the greatest thing she had heard.
“I figured…” Ben opened it. “You may have something in here.”
“I do.” She reached in and grabbed a bottle of water. “I have two of these.”
Ben smiled. He reached inside and pulled out a sock.
“Oh, Ben, that’s dirty.”
“Who cares?” He poured some water on the sock and placed it on her head to wipe it clean.
Lana took a huge drink of the water and extended the bottle to Ben.
“No,” he said. “I’m good. You drink.”
Lana started to, but her eyes shifted to the old woman next to her.
The woman stared at Lana and Lana handed her the bottle.
She tried to smile and her lips mouthed the words ‘thank you’ as she took the bottle.
“That was nice,” Ben said.
She tried to joke, to make light of the heavy situation. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m sure if I did, I wouldn’t…” Lana’s eyes strayed.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Lana pointed. “What in the world is that old man up to? He’s going to get hurt.”
Ben turned and looked.
Eventually, Harry would make it up there. He was just having a hard time purchasing a footing on the tilted car.
“Sir?” Ben approached him. “Is everything all right?”
“Not really. If you can give me a boost I’d appreciate it.”
“You want a boost into there?” Ben asked.
“Yep.”
“Sir, I can’t let you do that.”
“Can’t let me do that?” Harry nodded. “Uh huh. And why is that?”
“Because you could get hurt. If you’re looking for something, wait until help arrives.”
Harry was mid attempt, leg lifted and he stopped. He moved closer to Ben and lowered his voice. “Help isn’t coming. Didn’t you notice that little odd thing where everyone’s phone went off at the same time?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Did yours ring?” Harry asked.
“Yes.” Ben nodded.
“Who was it?”
“My mom, but I couldn’t talk to her. The connection was bad.”
“How often does your mom call at 8:30 in the morning? Everyone’s phone was ringing. Something was happening. Something did happen, right there above us, and that’s why we crashed. Now I ain’t saying anything to anyone. I hope to God I’m wrong, but I’m not holding my breath waiting on help.”
“Okay, still.” Ben held up his hand. “You can’t go in there. You can get hurt. Or worse, something happen and you get killed.”
“Yeah, well, ain’t that a life is cut short at my age. No, son. I have to go in there. Not for me. But for him.” Harry pointed to Tyler who stood across the open area. “He needs to find his dad. He’s in this train and I’m gonna look for him. Better me than that little boy, right?”
Ben hesitated and then with an irritated and frustrated ‘fine,’ he reached for Harry. “I’ll help you in. But I’m going with you.”
It was starting to smell pretty bad in car number two. It was a sour smell caused by the blood mixed with spilled coffee and expelled bodily fluids.
But it was quiet.
The emergency light flickered and Ben gave a hard swat to it causing it to stay on.
“There ya’ go,” Harry said.
But somehow, Ben wished he didn’t get those lights on. Things looked worse in the light.
They could see the faces of those who had died.
There were looks of pain, fear, peace. Mouths open, pieces of faces missing.
It was a massacre.
And walking wasn’t easy.
They had to balance on the seats, using them as stepping stones.
“TJ!” Harry called. “TJ, you hear me?”
“TJ?” Ben joined in calling.
“TJ!”
Cough.
They stopped. Harry turned to Ben. “Where’d that come from?”
Ben shook his head. “Whoever coughed, cough again.”
Whoever it was tried, but it was strained and painful.
“Oh my God,” was Ben’s reaction when he finally saw him.
No one saw him before, not just because it was dark, but because no one looked up.
He was at the far end, pinned almost to the ceiling by a large piece of metal that protruded through his chest.
Harry didn’t need to know the man; he knew who he was by the well described blue shirt.
It was TJ.
Ben and Harry rushed as fast and carefully as they could to TJ.
TJ coughed and choked. “My… my son.”
“Tyler is fine,” Harry said. “Don’t worry. He’s just fine.”
TJ closed his eyes and released a single sob.
Ben examined the wound. “This goes right through him.”
“We need to get him down.”
“He’s not gonna make it if we remove the object.”
Harry whispered, “He’s not gonna make it either way. Go… go get a couple of the men out there. Let’s get him down and out of here.”
“Do you…” Ben strained to keep his voice low. “Do you really think that little boy needs to see his father like this?”
“No.” Harry shook his head. “But this man needs to see his son one last time, and that boy does need to say goodbye to his father. Trust me. Now go. Go get help.”
Ben took a deep breath and reluctantly agreed, finding his way out of that car.
Harry reached up and grabbed TJ’s hand. “I’m right here. Help’s on the way. You hold tight. OK.”
TJ barely opened his eyes. “I’ll try.”
“That’s right; you try for that boy of yours. You try.” Harry squeezed his hand. “It’ll be just fine. You’ll see. It’ll be just fine.”
Harry said those words with the utmost assurance to TJ, even though he knew from the bottom of his heart that they were far from the truth.
It took six men.
Two held TJ to the wall, two pulled out the metal and two were on hand to catch him when he fell.
They had to move fast, though. The second the impaled object was removed from his chest it was like unplugging a kiddy pool.
Everything just gushed out.
The wound went straight through.
TJ cried out in pain, but he lacked the strength to produce a loud cry.