Then Came War (3 page)

He wanted to call out to those on top of him, he swore he saw one of them move. But he feared doing that would cause the perfect pyramid to collapse and crush him.

He just needed leverage.

What could he use for leverage?

The gift, Leo’s gift, was a strong box made of heavy metal. It already protected Harry once. It was possible it could save him again.

Harry wiggled his toes, twitched his legs and checked any and all body parts he would need to get out. They all seemed to be working rather painlessly and it was time to make the attempt.

Using all his strength, Harry gripped the box and inched to the right. It was a struggle, but he moved. Or at least he thought he moved.

He took a moment, got another breath, held the box and inched some more, this time backwards.

By God, Harry thought, it is going to work. It would take some time, but he’d get there.

“Dad?”

Abby’s head jolted quickly to the close sound of the boy’s voice. She saw him. He was peeking in the open door at the other end of the train.

“Dad?”

“Stop,” Abby called to him, holding out her hand. “Don’t come in here.”

“I need to find my Dad,” Tyler said.

“We will. Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay, then just …. Stay there. We’ll find him.”

Tyler nodded.

Abby was relieved, she lowered her head and released a single sob.

“Can you help me?” the voice, the same voice, the man who was stuck, called to her again. “I’m really stuck. This guy on top of me is huge.”

“Recite the alphabet,” Abby said.

“Is this a test?”

“No, I need to find you.”

He did.

To the left, his voice came from the left. Abby scooted over some. Where? Where was he?

By the time he got to the letter ‘W’, Abby had pinpointed the voice.

“Can you move anything?” Abby asked. “I know you’re here somewhere.”

“No. I’m pinned in.”

Abby looked around her. She was perched on the arm of a seat and when she looked down she saw the cell phone. Grabbing it, she played with the phone until it lit up enough for her to use it as a guide.

“Call out again.”

“Hello.”

Found.

The light cast a small hue on the almond colored face. His eyes blinked. It was reminiscent of the scene from the movie
ET
.

“You found me,” he said.

Abby noticed he was young. “I did.”

“When you were calling for the little boy, I thought you meant me.”

“You’re not that young.” Abby touched the dead body on top of him.

“No. But I’m too young to die. Can you get me out of here?”

“I’ll try,” Abby said. “Ok, let me think for a second.”

“What about if I push and you pull this guy,” he suggested.

“Then what?” Abby asked.

“Can we roll him out of the way?” he asked.

“We can try. Okay.” Abby took another breath. It was going to be difficult but she wasn’t a small woman. While her height was average, she always was a big boned gal and her body had held the extra weight from the baby, but she wasn’t anywhere as nimble as she wanted to be. But Abby was strong, she knew that.

Positioning herself belly down on the seat, Abby scooted up enough to get a good grip on the man’s body. “I’ll pull outward, you push and hopefully the momentum will move him. We start on the count of three. One, two …”

“Wait.” Another voice entered the equation.

They stopped.

The voice was close. Abby grabbed the cell phone again and used it as a light. Down at the bottom of the pile was a man, an older man.

It was Harry.

He was nearly free. He was still pinned from the waist down, but he had managed to get out some and was in a semi sitting position. “Just be careful. I don’t want all my hard work trying to free myself to be for naught,” he said.

“Are you hurt?” Abby asked.

“I ache,” Harry answered. “Then again at my age everything is gonna hurt.”

“We’ll be careful.” Abby nodded at Harry, put down the phone, grabbed the body of the man and made eye contact with the teenage boy. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

Abby counted. “One, two …three.”

It didn’t work.

They tried again.

The third time the rush of adrenaline aided in the task and Abby freed the man. Only problem was the force of the pull and push caused him to knock her back. She banged her shoulder on the other seat and the man’s lifeless arm flailed her in the face.

Abby would have fallen more had she not been quick enough to grab on to the seat.

“Here,” the young man crawled over the seat and aided her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He looked down at the three people below her; they all appeared dead. “We need to help the other guy and get off this train.” He extended his hand to her.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Abby took his hand. “What’s your name?”

“Foster.”

“Thank you, Foster.” Just as Abby stood, both her and Foster looked toward the shuffle bodies and the grunting sounds.

“I’m out,” Harry called. “Lifting that extra weight helped. Thank...” Harry stopped. He had inched out, used the wall as leverage and brought himself to a standing position. He was speaking as he climbed the mound of five bodies. He stopped speaking when he got a good look at all that transpired.

Below the bodies all he saw were people, darkness and blood. Once above it he saw the true devastation.

And all that Harry could muster was a gasping, “Oh my God.”

He was all the way at the other end of the train car and Ben could see people getting out. At least six people rose from the mounds and made their way from the wreckage. But Ben couldn’t go. Not yet. He could still hear moans and he prayed one of them was his wife.

Granted the last couple years of their marriage were rough. He couldn’t wait to get away from her controlling bitchy ways. But after decades of marriage, he still loved her and having her die at the bottom of a heap following a train wreck was not how he saw their marriage ending.

She was somewhere. She had to be. There were only about forty people in that particular car. She couldn’t be far from where he landed. There weren’t many bodies there.

But what was there was horrendous.

Crushed skulls, twisted bodies broken in more places than one could count. It was dark, too dark. The strobe effect of the emergency lights made it harder to see and eerie.

Then he spotted it. Hours earlier it was a major irritation and now it was a salvation. It was that hideous nail polish on those perfect nails.

And the nails weren’t broke.

It had to be Lana.

She was completely covered by a body except for her hand that extended out.

But Lana didn’t move.

Calling out, “Lana,” Ben dropped to his knees and grabbed her hand. It was limp, but warm and it only took a second for her fingers to grasp his.

“Oh, my God, you’re alive. I’ll get you out of here. I’ll get you out.”

Where to move the bodies?

There were two bodies that buried her and Ben moved them like a man on a mission. He moved them as best as he could, uncovering Lana, whose legs were still under someone.

She gasped, catching her breath and then coughed.

Ben sighed in relief and then reached for her, slipping his hand under her head. Her face was dirty and there was blood on it, although he didn’t know where it all came from. He was certain that the gash on her head supplied some of it. It was deep. “I’ll get you out.” He prepared to move her.

Lana then did something Ben couldn’t recall seeing her do in over ten years.

She cried.

Lana’s body shook and she audibly sobbed.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll get you out.”

She shook her head, crying harder.

“What is it, Baby, what is it?”

“My arm and I … I peed myself.”

Ben couldn’t help it. Perhaps it was the emotions. He was positive it had to be because he laughed. He laughed in relief and in gratefulness. He cupped her face, staring intently at her. “Baby, if that’s the worst that happened to you, then I am so grateful to God. It’ll be all right.” He planted his lips on her forehead. “It’ll be all right.”

Then Ben began to lift her out of there.

CHAPTER FOUR

It was a circle of protection, or at least a half circle of protection. That was Abby’s initial thought after emerging from car two. It was close, almost touching the wall of the tunnel, while the other train cars, smashed and overturned, surrounded it.

They over lapped.

The lead train car was compressed like a soda can and the last car was ripped apart. It and another car blocked the other end of tunnel completely.

She couldn’t even see the locomotive.

About 280 passengers were onboard the train, and from where Abby stood in a clearing amongst the wreckage, she counted maybe 30 people. In the hour or so since the crash only 30 people had come from the wreckage.

All of them were scared, moaning and crying. Some were hurt.

She felt helpless and didn’t know what to do.

He was trying not to cry and Harry knew it. Tyler stood by car two just staring at the overturned car, his little shoulders bouncing and the occasional sniffle emerging.

There was so much confusion. People were trying to see if they could get out. Others were going to wait patiently for the rescue crews.

But Harry focused on Tyler and he approached him from behind, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“Maybe he’ll be out, huh?” Tyler said.

“That what you’re waiting for?” Harry asked.

Tyler nodded. “That lady and guy came out.”

“And you’re right. You don’t know who else may emerge.”

“But what if he’s hurt and can’t.” Tyler looked up at Harry. “What if he’s hurt?”

“Tell ya' what.” Harry crouched down to Tyler’s level and did so with a grunt. “Do you remember what your dad was wearing?”

Tyler shook his head ‘no,’ and then stopped and nodded excitedly. “Yes. Yes. I do.”

“What was it?”

“He was wearing a blue shirt. I teased him that he looked like he worked at
Best Buy
.”

“Good. Good.” Harry squeezed his shoulder. “What kind of shirt was it? Was it long sleeved or short, business, tee shirt?”

Tyler shook his head. “Short sleeve, like the guys at
Best Buy
wear. Has a collar.”

“That helps. And what’s his name? Do you know his name?”

“It’s TJ.”

“Good.” Harry peered around and then he spotted him. After a short piercing whistle, he called out, “Foster.”

Foster came to an immediate halt. He was carrying what looked like two purses and a backpack. He set them down near a small pile of belongings.

“Yes sir?” Foster said.

“Can you help an old man up?” Harry raised his eyebrows.

“Sure.” Foster braced Harry’s elbow and aided him in standing.

“Thank you. I forget I just can’t get down and back up like I used to. What uh, what is that you’re up to?” Harry nodded his head to the pile.

“I’m not stealing or anything.”

“I didn’t say you were. I was just asking.”

“Well, kind of you know, grabbing what I can that’s lying around and seeing if we can find some food, water. Maybe stuff we can use for bandages. I originally went for my bag, but then I started thinking.”

“And that’s good thinking.”

Foster nodded. “It was embedded in me by my fifth foster father. He was one of those survivalist guys.”

“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.