“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.
He was weak and growing weaker by the second.
Using a dead man’s suit coat, they covered the front wound and carried him as best as they could to the door of the car.
Harry reiterated that they had to be quick and lay him down right away. They may have covered the gaping hole in his chest but there was no way to conceal the exit wound or the bones and ligament that hung from that hole.
Take him out, keep him covered and set him down.
That was the plan.
“And we found thirty-two bottles of water,” Tyler said excitedly to Abby. “I counted them.”
“Good for you.” She glanced at Foster. “Was this all?”
“For now, but I’m sure there’s more. It was kind of gross in there and I…”
“I understand,” Abby said. “Tyler, you’ll help me go through these things too, right?” she pointed to the purses and bags. “Maybe we can find useful items. We need other things besides food and water, like medication.”
“Sure,” Tyler said. “I’m a good finder. My mom used to tell me…” his eyes grew wide. “Dad?” He took a step and ran off as fast as he could yelling, “Dad!”
“Easy now, easy,” Harry instructed as the men gently placed TJ on the ground. “There you go. Thank you.”
