“You have to tell me! Can you see her?” He leaned against the wall, making the young lady take a step back.
She glanced at the operators for a second, then looked back to him.
Her final wave was heartbreaking.
“I think this is it, Poppy.”
CHAPTER 28
Pike’s Peak Cog Railway, CO
“We effing did it,” Kyla said proudly, after almost twenty-four hours of effort to have contacted Emily and her uncle.
“It isn’t over yet,” Meechum replied, guiding the minivan ever farther down the railroad right-of-way. They were at the edge of the tree line, aimed almost due east toward Colorado Springs. Toward the impact zone.
Kyla still held her phone. “I told them we would get safe. I may have lied.” The sight of five missiles cruising over her head was enough to convince her of the danger they were in.
“I heard you. I’m looking.” The Marine’s words sounded tired and slurred; they were both exhausted.
Meechum went for broke speeding along the tracks. The tires bounced on the railroad ties, causing a vibration to rock everything inside the van with them. Junk from the center console sputtered into the back. A kid’s sippy cup came bouncing to the front. After half a minute, she slowed the van, studying the rocks and terrain to their right. She hammered the gas again when it wasn’t what she’d hoped. “We’re getting there.”
“Getting where?” There was nothing outside but rocks, trees, and a little creek about fifty feet down the embankment to their right. The water feature grew in width as small waterfalls flowed in from both sides of the narrow valley.
“Almost…there.” Meechum seemed to ignore her. Her eyes barely left the creek even as she drove at sixty miles-an-hour down a steep grade to vacate the mountain.
When they rounded a bend, another of the stopped tram cars appeared. The Marine drove off the tracks, sped by the red ghost train, clipped the rear corner of the second car, and veered back onto the right-of-way like a stunt driver.
“That was close,” Meechum admitted quietly.
“We should slow,” Kyla suggested.
“No time,” the driver replied. A few seconds later, she shouted, “There!”
Meechum put both feet on the brakes and the van sputtered on the tracks, throwing rocks and dust everywhere. The instant the van got close to a stop, she jammed on the e-brake and shut off the motor.
“Run for it, Dudette!”
Kyla watched as the driver got out, ran around the hood, and collapsed.
“What the hell? I’m coming!”
The Marine had fallen on the tracks in front of the van. When Kyla ran up, she experienced the weight of a ticking clock. It was urgent they get somewhere immediately, but where the heck was Meechum going? There was nothing around them but forest, rocks, and a creek.
“Meech!” She got down next to her friend.
“Water…”
“You need water?” She had none.
The combat Marine was soaked with sweat. Her eyes swam loops in her sockets. Still, she fought through it to grab Kyla’s sleeve. “Get in the water, girl!
The black uniform made it difficult to see the soaked-through blood from Meechum’s shoulder wound, but now a fist-sized patch glistened in the sunlight. The woman had finally reached the hard limit of her endurance and pain. She was out cold.
The water was at the bottom of the embankment. Out of the van, looking down on five stories of descent suddenly seemed like being at the top of a skyscraper.
“Come on, Marine, you’re not done yet!” Kyla yelled, thinking it was how it happened in the movies, but Meechum didn’t snap awake, ready for one last hurrah.
The warrior woman once gave her a piece of advice, which she now took to heart. She’d said the trick to being a badass was accepting you can’t always look before you leap. See what needs to be done, act like you’re in control, and jump right in…
“All right,” she continued, “I’ll get you there myself.”
Kyla struggled to drag her to the edge. Looking to the sky near the NORAD mountain, there wasn’t a white flash of light, so they weren’t dead yet. The missiles, however, had to be getting to their destination.
She sat on the rocks and let herself slide over the gravel incline, going down a few feet. She held onto Meechum’s belt to keep them together. However, once the deadweight went over the side, she lost her footing.
“Shit!”
Kyla was unable to stop the momentum. All she could do was hold Meechum tight and slide down the rocky incline with her. When they weren’t moving fast, it was possible to use her feet to push off rocks and bushes, but she was out of control in seconds.
For the first time in her life, Kyla was thankful she had a little extra around the hips. Her black trousers absorbed the brunt of the rapid descent and twice she had to pull her friend onto her own body to keep from hitting sharp edges.
Both struck the bottom at breakneck speeds. Kyla shifted her body to absorb the blow with her side. Meechum bounced off a last rock, landing on top of her. After a second inhaling the dust kicked up by their descent, and glad nothing was broken, she rolled the woman onto the ground and forced herself to stand up.
“Come on! The water will be nice!” She ignored the road rash up her back and on her elbows. She didn’t look at the scrapes on the Marine. The only thing of consequence was getting to the safety of the deep creek ten feet away.
Even as she put her foot in the water, Kyla was still convinced they weren’t going to make it. She wondered if a nuclear blast was instantaneous. Would she even know she was dead?
Act like you’re in control.
“Hold your breath!”
NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain Entrance, CO
Brent had never experienced such pent-up hatred for someone. Even the VC back in Vietnam eventually exacted a begrudging respect. They, at least, were fighting a style of warfare he understood. Long,
