Chapter 29: The End of the Line

“What’ll we do?” asked Auburn.  “Run for it?”

Frank shook his head.  “We’re too far down the tunnel for that,” he said.  “We might make it, but it’s risky.  There’s got to be another way out.  If they did rescue practices, then there must be—”   He shone his light at the ceiling.

“Look!” he said.  “Ladders!”

There were two of them—steel rungs leading up to trapdoors a full two stories above the track.  That was great.  The only bad part was, the ladders didn’t start until about seven feet off the ground.

“That’s quite a reach,” Auburn said.  “I can’t go that high—”

“You won’t have to,” said Frank.  “None of us will have to.”  He glanced over his shoulder.  The train was coming again—it looked a lot closer now.  The little rays of light at the edge of the main spots was showing.

“Stephanie, Brittany, you two lift us up,” Frank said.  “Auburn and I will each grab one of the ladders.  Then, you can grab a leg, and we’ll pull you up until you can catch the bottom rung.  Can you manage that?”

“Anything to get away from that!” Stephanie glanced back up the tunnel.  “Let’s go!”

Frank took position under the ladder, then squatted.  As Stephanie hoisted, he pushed off the ground with his legs.  This vaulted him all the way up to the third rung, and Stephanie nearly had to jump to reach his leg.  Soon, she too was safely on the ladder.  Frank sprinted up, then pushed.  The door had a latch, but a spring where the knob should have been clicked it open, and he was soon climbing through to the floor above.  Moving over, he waited for the oldest Dale girl, then lent her a hand as she clambered out.

“Two down, two to go…”

Frank’s voice trailed off as he saw the other trapdoor.  It was exactly the same as the one he’d just come through, except for one small detail—a detail that wasn’t even part of the door itself, but one that made all the difference in the world.

There was a forklift parked on it!

“Oh, no!” Frank sprung into action.  “Push it, Stephanie, in case I can’t get it started!”  He leaped into the driver’s seat.

“Frank, the door won’t—”

“I’m working on it, Auburn!”  Frank found the ignition, and pushed a button.  The machine roared to life, and he quickly put it in gear.  It rolled forward, and he hopped out once it was off the square.  Kneeling, he turned the latch on the door, then started to pull the handle up.  Just as he did so, though—

“AAAUUUGGH!!!!”

The blood froze cold in his and Stephanie’s veins.  “Brittany!” Stephanie exclaimed.  “Did the train—”

“Couldn’t have yet,” said Frank.  “We’d have felt the impact, but something’s wrong!”  He jerked open the door, and the pair looked into the hatch, in time to see—

Auburn was still on the ladder, but Brittany had lost her grip and fallen off.  She was sitting on the tracks, staring horrified at the lights, which were getting really bright now.  The rumble from the tracks was getting louder—

“Be right there!” Auburn called up to Frank.  “Brittany, get up!  I’m coming down to get you!  You can grab for my leg again!”

“Hurry!” shouted Brittany.  “It’s almost here!”

As Auburn scampered down, Stephanie whispered to Frank.  “It won’t be enough if Brittany catches the ladder before the train hits.  That crash is liable to send some debris flying.  They’ve got to get through the door—”

“Pray, Stephanie, pray,” Frank told the girl.  To Brittany, he yelled, “Jump, Brittany!  You can do it!”

“She’s got my leg!” Auburn shouted.  “Okay, Brittany!  Grab the ladder when you can!”

Heaving determinedly, Auburn dragged her way up the ladder.  Every fiber in her arm muscles seemed to burn with tension, but she didn’t care about that.  All she cared about was getting up—getting to safety.  And when the hand came off her foot, she froze—but only for a moment, until she saw that Brittany had successfully caught the ladder.

“Hurry, guys, hurry!” said Frank.  “It’s like five seconds away!”

He was right, but Auburn was two seconds away from the top.  She sprung out, then swiveled around and helped the others catch Brittany.  They yanked the Conoco worker out, just as

CRASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

With the noise of a—of a—well, of a railway train crashing, the car slammed into the wall.  There was the creaking and groaning of metal, the sudden cutoff of the engine, the sound of little pieces of debris hitting the floor and walls of the tunnel—

Then, nothing.  Just stillness.

Frank, Auburn, and Stephanie all relaxed.  Brittany, however, looked worried.

“Uh, guys?” she said.  “Just before that train hit, I thought I saw a face through the window.”

“Face?” Frank asked.  “One of the crooks—”

“No, someone about Auburn’s age—in fact, it looked a little like you, Stephanie!”

Frank and Auburn glanced at each other.  “Nancy and Ashley!”

Quickly, the two scrambled back through the open trapdoor.  Hurriedly, they started down the ladder, until they’d reached the roof of the disabled train.  The first quarter of it or so had flattened itself against the wall, but the roof was pretty much intact beyond that.

“Watch out for the antenna,” Frank said, leaping onto the roof.  “It could kill you!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”  Auburn scampered around the other side of it.

There was an emergency hatch on the roof of the train, and it was to this Frank now ran.  Skidding to a stop, he grabbed it and yanked it open.  “Nancy, Ashley!” he yelled.  “Are you alright?”

No answer.

“Nancy, Ashley!”

Again, no answer—for about five seconds.  Then—

“Oh, Ashley, there’s a roof hatch!  We didn’t need to break that window and squeeze our way up the wall after all!”

Ashley sighed.  “You picked the perfect time to tell me that—”

Frank glanced at the north wall of the tunnel, and a smile of relief came over his face.  “Nancy, you’re alright!”

“They said this car had failed four crash tests,” Nancy said, as she finally reached the roof.  She helped Ashley up, then headed over to the ladders.  “After its performance today, I’d give it an A for crash safety.  They must have fixed the problem.”