“Get the ones out of the cars that are already burning first!” Matt yelled, taking charge only because no one else seemed to be doing so.
Leading by example, Matt moved up to the first car, which, because of its position, presented the windows at face level. Stepping up to the window and looking inside, Matt drew in a sharp breath of shock. Through the smoke that was coming out of the car, he could see seats that were wrenched from their mounts, and a floor that was running red with blood. There were bodies, and body parts, strewn about.
“Anyone here?” he called.
“Yes, I’m here,” a man’s voice answered.
Matt went into the car and and found a man lying on the floor, with his legs badly twisted.
“I can’t walk,” the man said. “Please, get me out of here.”
Turning, Matt saw that a couple others had come in with him.
“Hang on,” Matt said. “We’re going to get you out.”
He passed the passenger back to the one behind him and, making a chain of rescuers, they got the injured man safely off the train.
Leaving that car, Matt went to the next to continue the rescue operation. At the front of the car, he saw the woman and the little boy, Jerry, who had asked about his shackles. Jerry was unhurt and free to move around, but he was sitting on the floor by his mother. Matt saw, then, why Jerry hadn’t left the train. The boy’s mother was trapped under the seat.
Matt crawled in through the window, then worked his way through the smoke and bloody carnage until he reached the front of the car.
“Hello, Jerry,” Matt said, remembering the boy’s name. “How are you?”
“I’m all right, but Mama can’t get up,” Jerry answered.
“Ma’am, can you hear me?” Matt asked.
“Yes, I can hear you,” she answered in a weak voice.
“Are you hurt?”
“I think I may have broken my arm,” she replied.
“What about Suzie?”
“She’s here with me,” the woman answered. “We’re both jammed in here and can’t move. I’m worried about Suzie. She hasn’t made a sound.”
“Let me see what I can do.”
The woman and her young daughter were wedged in between the front seat and the collapsed front wall of the car. In addition, the side wall was crushed in as well and pressing down on the seat.
Matt tried to pull the seat out, but he couldn’t make it budge. Then he tried to lift the seat up, and couldn’t do that either. He was not going to be able to move the seat without help, or at least without tools.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
“No, please, don’t leave us,” the woman pleaded. “The car is on fire, I don’t want to burn up.”
Matt squatted down, then put his hand gently, reassuringly, on her shoulder. “I have to get something that will allow me to move this seat,” he said. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
“All right,” the woman agreed reluctantly.
“I’ll stay with you, Mama,” Jerry said.
“No, Jerry, you get out while you can.”
“I’m going to stay here until he comes back,” Jerry said resolutely.
“You’re a good boy, Jerry,” Matt said, running his hand through the boy’s hair. “I promise, I’ll be back.”
Leaving them, Matt crawled back out through the window, then started walking quickly alongside the wrecked train, looking for something he could use to pry up the seat. He was hoping for a piece of metal small enough for him to handle, but strong enough to do the trick, and he picked up several pieces of wreckage, discarding each one as unusable. Then he saw, lying at the bottom of the track berm, a pickax.
For a moment, he wondered how a pickax happened to be here. Then he realized, with a start, that the train robbers must’ve used the pickax in order to pull the spikes and spread the track, which resulted in wrecking the train. Grabbing the pickax, he retraced his path along the length of the burning train, then climbed back into the car.
“Hello?” he called.
“Thank God you’re back,” the woman said.
“Yes, ma’am, I told you I would come back for you,” Matt replied. Once more, he moved to the front of the car until he reached the mangled seat. Putting the head of the pickax under the edge of the seat, he began working on it, putting all his strength into it. He heard metal screeching, then felt the seat beginning to give way.
“It’s moving!” he said. “Hold on!”
Then, with a loud pop, the seat broke loose from its mount and, dropping the pickax, Matt grabbed the seat and pulled it completely free. He tossed the seat aside, then reached down for the woman.
“Can you walk?” he asked as he helped her up.
“Yes,” she said. She stood there with her arm held against her stomach. “There is nothing wrong with my legs, I can walk. Please, get Suzie.”
Matt got down on his hands and knees and looked up under the collapsed wall. Suzie was dead, impaled by a piece of wood that had torn from the side of the car. He looked away quickly and, seeing his reaction, the woman cried out.
“No!” she said. “Oh, God, no! Is she—is she dead?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, ma’am,” Matt said.
“Please, get her out for me,” the woman said.
“I should get you and Jerry off the train first and see if there is someone who can take care of your arm.”
“No!” the woman said. “Please!” she begged. “Get my baby for me! Get her out of there!”
Matt nodded. “All right,” he said. “I’ll get her for you.”
Reaching back under the collapsed wall, Matt pulled out the piece of wood that had speared through her little body. Then, gently, he pulled her out.
“My baby!” the woman cried, reaching for the little girl with her good arm. Matt handed the child to her mother, then led the mother and Jerry out of the car.
One of the passengers was a doctor, and though he was bloodied and bruised, he was not seriously injured. Putting aside his own injuries, he had the impromptu rescuers bring all those who were hurt to one place so he could look after them as best he could under the circumstances.
Matt took the woman to him.
“Mrs. Dobbs,” the doctor said. “I didn’t know you were on the train.”
“Doctor, it’s Suzie,” Mrs. Dobbs said.
“Let me look at her,” Dr. Presnell said, reaching out to take the child from Mrs. Dobbs’s arms.
“No!” Mrs. Dobbs said, twisting away from the doctor’s reach. As she did, the pain in her arm caused her to wince.
“Suzie?” Dr. Presnell said. He looked at Matt, and Matt shook his head sadly.
“All right, Louise, you can hold on to your little girl,” Dr. Presnell said. “But let me look at your arm.”
“Mrs. Dobbs, won’t you let me hold Suzie for you until Dr. Presnell has examined your arm?” Matt offered.
Mrs. Dobbs hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and gave the little girl to him.
Dr. Presnell looked at her arm, then moved it, and she cried out in pain.
“Jerry,” Dr. Presnell said. “I want you to look around and find me two pieces of wood about this long,” he said, indicating the length with his hands.
“All right.”
“I’m going to make a splint,” Dr. Presnell said. “If I can find some way to hold it in place.”
“There are some items of clothing strewn about,” Matt suggested. “I’ll collect some of it. Maybe we can tear some of that into strips.”
“Good idea,” Dr. Presnell replied.
Matt started to walk away, still carrying the dead baby.
“No!” Mrs. Dobbs called. “Don’t take her away from me!”
“I’ll bring her right back, Mrs. Dobbs, I promise,” Matt said.
“Louise, I need his help if I’m going to fix your arm,” Dr. Presnell said.
Mrs. Dobbs nodded. “All right,” she said.
Mrs. Dobbs did not take her eyes off Matt as he wandered around through the strewn items of clothing, all the while carrying the dead child. Finally, he found a shirt, which he ripped into strips. Then he took the strips of cloth back to the doctor. By now, Jerry had returned with several pieces of wood, gathered from the wreckage of the train.