“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.
